The True Spirit of Halloween
by Mahita
Summary: It's October. It's been a couple of months since the defeat of Pitch Black. But the guardians are still weary of stray nightmares that may have eluded their grasp when hunting them down after the fight. So what happens when they chase one that sends them into another adventure all together? Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I just wanted to get started on my Halloween fanfic a little early this year. This is my first time doing anything other than a one-shot so please be patient with me. If I don't upload for a while it's either because of technical error or because I haven't had time in between school, homework and work. Please let me know what you think and please enjoy!**

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Bunnymund's POV

"Hurry up ya slow sacs! It went this way!" I yelled at the other, much slower guardians. We had met up in the middle of these hidden woods somewhere around Salem, Massachusetts when I had run across one of Pitch's stray nightmares. We had been on this hunt for any strays for a while just to make sure there would be the smallest chance of his return ever happening. We hadn't seen any and the others had started to think that we had got em' all but I still had this feeling that there was more out there. North too.

"Aw come on Bunny! We've been following you for an hour and we haven't seen any signs of black sand or fear anywhere. You sure you saw a nightmare?" Frost asked, whining. I held my boomerangs at the ready just in case while North held out his swords in preparation for an attack. Sandy and Tooth took up the rear, making sure none snuck around from behind.

"Jack, if there is any chance of vat Bunny says is true, we should listen to him," North said, trying to ease him. Jack humphed as I turned back to watch where I was going.

"Besides, it couldn't have gotten far, I know there isn't any people around here for it to scare and it's still daylight out so there's no chance of it feeding off of any dreams," Bunny said.

"Exactly! It's broad daylight! Why would a nightmare come out in a place that is completely empty of…," Frost looked around a moment. "Wait. There aren't ANY signs of life here at all! Why would a nightmare be out here?" Frost asked, starting to sound a little more invested. That's when I started to notice the same thing.

"Actually, yeah, that doesn't make any sense, Frost," I said, looking around in the trees for birds and on the ground for squirrels. Nothing. I lifted my boomerangs back into my fighting stance, feeling the fur on the back of my neck stand straight up as the late October winds blew cool air through the trees. I started walking forward again when I saw something black. "There!" I shouted and started hopping after the black figure, the others following close behind.

"This one is really fast!" said Frost, keeping up beside me on his staff, followed closely behind by Tooth and Sandy then last by North, all the while he chopped dying branches off of trees to keep from getting hit. That's when we all ended up in a creepy, foggy clearing and no sight of the nightmare. We assumed our battle stances back to back, ready to fight if there were more than just the one we had been running after, Sandy's sand creeping around on the ground as if it were a living trap.

"What is this place?" Tooth asked after a moment, breaking formation and flittering around the clearing.

"I don't know but I have strange feeling about dis place," stated North. "Tooth! Stay back here with us! I can't see you through dis fog," he said, taking a few steps towards where she had wandered, Frost, Sandy and I moving close beside him.

"Guys! I'm over here!" she shouted through the fog. "I found something weird!"

"Tooth! Keep talkin'! We'll find ya," I said. The fog was so thick, you couldn't even see your nose in front of your face.

"Okay! I found what almost looks like a huge rabbit hole! But it's weird, there's a ladder leading down into it!" she said as we finally reached her. I looked around, noticing that the fog dissipated around the hole which was much bigger than a natural rabbit hole as it looked to be even bigger than the one I used to get my egg golems into the fight earlier in the year with Pitch. "I would have fallen into it had I not been flying. It's so weird though, do you think anyone is down there?" she asked.

"I do not know but vat I do know is dat if anyone is down there, they are probably being attacked by dat nightmare! Let's go!" and with that, North started down the ladder. Tooth, Frost and Sandy flew down the hole while I waited until they were some distance down. I looked around, hoping that we all weren't making an awful mistake. I took a deep breath, looked deep into the large hole in the ground and jumped, hoping that if my jump took out any of my fellow guardians, it would be Frost.


	2. Chapter 2

Bunnymund's POV

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As I free-fell into the hole in the earth, I noticed for the first time in a while how rich the earth smelled this time of year despite it not being around my holiday at all. I also noticed how bad Jack's staff hurt when you fell on top of him while in mid-air.

"Ouch! Bunny! Watch where you're falling!" he shouted from below me as we continued to plummet. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"I don't control where I fall! Maybe you should watch where you're hoverin' at mate," I told him. That's when we heard North's deep voice start to yell from above us but getting steadily closer. Jack and I looked around the hole as we continued our descent only to look back at each other. Where was the rest of the ladder?

"I'll try to get North!" Jack shouted to me as the wind in my large ears began to deafen me. How long was this hole anyways? I just nodded to him as I took out my boomerangs and dug them into the walls on either side of me in an attempt to slow my fall. _Bad idea_ , I thought to myself. I then used my feet to try to help before I splat on the ground, wherever that was. I looked down the hole only to see more fog like what we had seen in the clearing. I finally started to feel myself slow down to a near stop when I looked up just to get crushed and to fall again this time with North and Frost on top of me as we fell faster than I had before on my own. We all screamed as our speed grew only to feel earth beneath us as a slope came up to meet us as we slowed on our slide as we came out, falling hard on a bed of soft, huge leaves.

"Jack! North! Bunny! What happened to you guys?" asked Tooth as Sandy signed with sand above his head to ask if we were okay. Shoving the other two off of me, I got up and retrieved my fallen boomerangs on the chance we got attacked.

"We are all right Toothy, no need to worry," said North as Frost brushed himself off and picked up his staff which he had also lost after North had fallen. "Was weird though. The ladder just stopped after some ways down. I do not understand it," said North, rubbing the back of his head and making sure his twin blades were still sheathed on his back. "Now, the real question is, where in the world did we fall to?" he asked. I shook my head and looked around as the fog started to clear.

What I saw astounded me. Miles upon miles of nothing but pumpkins, all plump and ripe on the vines. But no nightmares to be seen. Where had it gone? And where did all these pumpkins come from? And where were they anyways?

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Jackie's POV

"There. Now I only have a couple dozen more to go," I said as I wiped the sweat from my forehead before pulling another pumpkin from its vine and into my lap. My knife was cut short from its stab as I heard the sound of hooves beating against the ground. Looking up, I noticed my beautiful nightmare and only friend galloping towards me. I got up, feeling that something was up.

"What's wrong, girl?" I asked her, stroking her mane. I never understood why that never hurt me given that she was a pitch black horse with fire for a mane and tail. The oddest thing though was that contrary to what humans believed, her eyes were a cool, calm blue rather than the assumed black or red that people commonly associated with nightmares.

"You have visitors," she said in the melodic, kind voice that clashed greatly with her appearance. I was immediately intrigued and worried at the same time. Visitors? Here? How did anyone manage to find this place?

"Have you any idea who they are?" I asked her as she allowed me to climb on her back.

"Yes, they seem to be other spirits. The guardians I believe actually," she said as she ran at a good speed, attempting to get me to the entrance of my home quickly but slow enough to let me conceal myself if needed when we got there. After all, the battle with Pitch had just happened only a couple of months ago. What if he told them about me? What if they came here to kill me? Or to get rid of me? What if they just didn't understand what it is I stand for? All these questions ran through my head as I hugged onto the fiery mane. Within only a few minutes, I noticed a couple of figures standing around the edge of the pumpkin patch.

"Easy," I told her and she slowed and let me off her as she vanished into the air to keep watch from another area to make sure I would be okay. The pumpkins were that of a normal size but I was far away enough from them that I concealed myself easily enough to be able to hide myself completely amongst the foliage while still being able to hear them. I crept closer until I could see them more clearly and hear what they were saying.

"I'm tellin' ya, I'm not crazy! I saw that bloody nightmare run into that clearing!" said the tall, furry spirit with the Australian accent. _That must be the one they call E. Aster Bunnymund._ I thought to myself, figuring that he was a rabbit giving the fact that he had a short, fluffy tail which kangaroos did not.

"Then where is it? And where are we then if you're so smart?" asked the white haired boy with the blue hoodie. _That one is Jack Frost. He's the newest one. Or at least that's the talk amongst the spirits nowadays._ These thoughts came to my mind from the nightmare's. This used to be a signature trick they used on people to make them think they would hear something or have self-doubt about them being alone. For us though, we would use it if she was on one side of my home and I was on the other. The same was true when she went out into the world to spread fear.

"Look, I don't know where we're at and I don't know where that bloody nightmare went, all I know is that this is where it headed and we need to find it and get rid of it!" said the rabbit in a furious rage. I immediately felt the anger rise inside me and heard the growl of my nightmare inside my head. I crept forward a little more.

"Bunny, I think we need to investigate this place first, don't you think?" asked the one with the twin swords and the tattoos. _That's North._ Thought the two of us at the same time. We did that whenever we were thinking the same thing. We chuckled a little inside our minds before I went back to listening.

"I think North is right you guys. I mean, look at this place! It's amazing! Besides, we never get to do anything together besides nightmare hunting anymore!" said an oversized fairy.

"See? Tooth agrees as well," said North. Bunny huffed and folded his arms over his chest while still holding onto his boomerangs. _Must be paranoid._ I thought to myself.

 _Well what do you expect? He saw_ _ **me**_ _after all._

 _Yes, I know that but still. You would think he would listen to his friends some more…_ I thought before looking around their group. _Wait…1…2…3…4…where's the 5_ _th_ _?_

I was suddenly lifted into the air by my ankle, rough sand cutting into my skin. I wildly sent thoughts to my nightmare to not react. She seemed to listen as I could still feel her presence but did not physically see her as I was laid down in front of the guardians in a golden sand cage with a clasp made of sand around my wrists and ankle. Shaking my head, I looked up at my captor. He looked at me with curiosity as the others came over to see what he had found.

"Sandy! Vat is it? Did you find the nightmare?" asked North. Sandy shook his head and made a picture out of sand above his head of two eyes.

"So she was watchin' us eh?" said Bunnymund when he had gotten close enough to my cage to see what I was.

"Sandy! Why did you do that? I'm sure she doesn't mean us any harm," said the Tooth Fairy. Sandy gave a look to try to say that he felt suspicious about me but they weren't quite understanding him. I closed my eyes for a couple of seconds.

"He's trying to tell you that he sensed something off about me and that he doesn't know if you can trust me at face value right off the bat," I explained. Everyone, including the Sandman turned to look at me. "What?" I asked. North stepped up to me as my sand cage fell away.

"Who are you?" he asked, curiosity fixed deep in his eyes. I looked down for a few moments before looking him in the eye.

"My name is Jackie Lantern. Pitch Black is my brother."


	3. Chapter 3

Jackie's POV

All at once, their mouths dropped. I can't say that I could blame them really. That's when Bunnymund lunged at me.

"Come ere' ya bloody good for nothin'!" I quickly ducked out of his way, swerving in and out of his range, knowing where he would strike next before he did so. Leading him over to some stray vines, I ducked away at the last second as he took a giant leap just to fall on his face as he got tripped up by the vines. I held up my hands to say that I didn't mean any harm and looked to the others. They still held shocked expressions though now those expressions were starting to change to those of anger in the faces of Tooth and Jack while curiosity showed on the Sandman's face. Looking over to North though, I saw that there was nothing but amusement on his face. I didn't quite understand why and didn't get much of a chance as Bunny untangled himself from the vines and started coming after me again. Caught off guard, I knew his attack would hit as I braced myself. It never came. I looked up, hearing North's deep chuckle at Bunny as golden sand fell away from the bunny's boomerangs.

"Dat is enough Bunny, you have no need to keep embarrassing yourself," said North, clapping the overgrown rabbit on the back. Bunny looked like he was about to lose it.

"What?! What do ya mean?! She's the bloody sister of Pitch! We can't just walk away while we have her ere'!" he yelled at him while keeping an eye on me. I stood there, hands behind my back, politely waiting for them to finish. Tooth and Jack slowly crept over to me, obviously not trusting me but wanting to be near just in case a fight broke out between the two guardians.

"Just because she has relation to Pitch does not mean she is like him," explained North.

"But we saw that nightmare run into the clearing! It's ere' somewhere!" said Bunny as he looked around.

"You mean Anastasia?" I said, starting to feel a little uneasy of them being here even if some were willing to keep the giant rabbit from attacking me.

"You named that bloody thing?!" the rabbit raged at me. I glared and walked towards him.

"Don't you dare talk about her that way," I said in a low, dangerous tone. "She is nothing like the weaklings my brother created nor does she do what they did." North spoke up.

"I apologize for Bunny's behavior. Can I ask that we start over?" he asked. I looked to him, softening my expression and nodding. He clapped his hands together. "Vonderful! Now, can we go somevhere to sit and talk then?" He asked. I considered this a moment before nodding.

"Fine. However I would like to ask then that everyone keep their weapons and abilities to themselves. I have no issue with any of you and you are in my home after all," I said, waiting on Bunny to put his boomerangs away. When he didn't, North nudged him.

"What about the nightmare though?" asked the rabbit.

"Anastasia will not attack you unless she or I feels it's necessary. So as long as you keep your weapons away, you'll find no issue with us," I explained. With one last long, hard look at me then at North, he put away his boomerangs.

"Fine, but no funny business," he warned. I gave him a hard look.

"I'm not my brother," and with that, I turned and whistled. A couple of seconds later, the ground in front of us broke apart to reveal an old-looking carriage. As the others looked on in wonder, I climbed in the driver's seat and took the reins attached to horses, unseen to all but me. "Well? Come on," I said as I turned to the front once more.

First on was North followed closely by Sandy and Tooth while Jack and Bunny lagged behind as long as North allowed.

"Come you two! Vat are you vaiting on? Christmas?" He had a hardy laugh after that one. It even made me chuckle. They climbed in and away we went. Knowing that the spirit horses knew where they were going, I turned around to talk to the guardians.

"So, what brought you to Salem anyways? It doesn't seem like the type of place where the spirit of Christmas, Easter, winter, character and dreams would end up in," I asked.

"Well, if you _must_ know, we were following that nightmare of yours," said Bunny.

"Ve were trying to make sure dat the last of Pitch's nightmares were gone and we ended up following yours it seems," said North, trying to clear up what Bunny was said. I nodded.

"Like I said before, Anastasia is nothing like those other nightmares. She does her job right and she's a real one. Not a carbon copy made of black sand," I said, becoming angry once more at my brother for what he did to the world. I turned back around as we neared my house.

We came upon a large, four story mansion with a huge amount of rooms and nothing but mostly books on the inside. Painted black and purple, it was as if a backdrop from a Halloween play was dropped at the edge of a pumpkin field which furthered the scene. Dark, creepy and foreboding. Just the way I liked it. I pulled the spirit drawn carriage up to the porch where Anastasia waited patiently for me in the shadow of the house. The others, taken completely by the sight of the house had obviously not noticed her.

"Here we are. Home sweet home," I said, dropping down out of the driver's seat as the others got out as well. I started walking towards my front door as it opened on its own to let me inside. "Lunch will be ready in a few minutes," I said, gesturing for them to follow me. North did happily, as if he wasn't bothered by the place as much as the others.

I led them through the doorway and into the living room where I was met with hundreds of books on bookshelves and in stacks around the seats. Everything was well-kept even if it did look like you had just walked into a haunted house. I led them into the kitchen where a lunch of pork chops, green beans and an assortment of many other foods filled the air with its mouth-watering smells. Turning to the stoves, I closed my eyes to concentrate. I could feel that the guardians were wary about eating with me, even North who seemed perfectly at home felt a little on edge but nothing too bad.

I opened my eyes and went about setting the table as the food finished cooking.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, who was it that was making the food? I don't see anyone," said Tooth, looking around as she took a seat. I smiled.

"Here, many things are automatic for the most part. Lunch gets started the same time everyday just as breakfast and dinner. After all, I don't have little helpers like fairies and yetis to help me with what I do so my home helps me out," I explained.

"What about that nightmare then? Doesn't it help ya?" Bunny asked though I could tell that he trusted me the least out of all of them since I could feel that Jack was starting to relax a little.

"She's busy with her own job and I've never really needed much help. Well, not before now that is," I said, setting the food on the table.

Bunnymund's POV

She set the food down on the table which after eating nothing but the junk North served at the Pole for a "meal", was nothing but tempting. I still didn't trust her, but soon my stomach won out and I dug in. There were steamed carrots and lettuce with the most beautiful salads I had ever seen outside the Warren. Taking a side glance at the others, I could tell that everyone else had started to relax as well over the hot meal. I swore to myself then and there that no matter how good this girl's cookin' was, I would never trust her.

Jackie's POV

As we all ate together, I noticed how much more relaxed they all felt while eating. It surprised me actually. I guess I had underestimated what a good meal could do to someone's nerves.

"So vhere is dis Anastasia of yours?" North asked between a bite of pork chop. I smiled.

"Closer than you would think," she said as she stuck her head through the window. All the guardians jumped at the new presence as she chuckled.

"Oh come now Anastasia. Your food will get cold," I told her. She nodded and turned into a shadow, sliding into the room through the window before taking shape as a pale human with ink black hair with dark red highlights and her usual blue eyes. She wore a loose fitting black rob much like the one my brother wore but more elegant and better looking on her. She took her seat next to me at the table as the others just stared in shock. She looked up at them.

"What? You expected one of Pitch's?" she asked. North cleared his throat.

"I am sorry we chased you through the forest Anastasia. Dat battle with Pitch still leaves us a little paranoid," he said with an apologetic tone.

"It's alright, North," she said.

"Anyways, what I really want to know is how you found my home in the first place. I know you were hunting Pitch's remaining nightmares but what made you think there would be any in Salem?" I asked.

"We all split off in different directions to cover more ground so we would be absolutely sure there wouldn't be any left for Christmas this year when I saw a black figure dash by me which I'm guessin' was you," said Bunny, looking at Anastasia. It was still obvious that he was uncomfortable but it seemed as if he had relaxed enough by now that it didn't show as much. "I told the others and we met up. I thought I saw her again but thinking about that now, I can't be sure anymore," he said, going back to eating.

"We don't really know how we got into that strange forest around that hole," said Tooth. It seemed like she had relaxed completely now that North and Bunny had. I looked over to Jack who seemed more focused on his food than on the conversation.

"You haven't said anything Jack," I said. He looked up, almost surprised that I mentioned him. He went back to his food.

"Didn't think you noticed someone who's so unimportant," he said. The others looked as surprised at his remark as I felt.

 _Isn't he supposed to represent fun?_ I asked Anastasia through our minds.

 _Yes though I think he's going through a rough time. I mean, he's just like you in a way. Almost always being alone that is._ She thought back. I nodded slightly. I waited for the others to stop barraging him on how important he was to them which I could tell was doing nothing but making him more and more upset. Finally, they stopped talking long enough for me to get a word in.

"Jack, we are all important in some way, whether you believe so or not," I said, looking down. He looked up, seemingly more invested in what I had to say rather than what his fellow guardians were telling him. "Each and every one of us is here to fulfill a need of some kind to the people of the world. I thought that I was useless when I first got this job myself. At that point, I hadn't understood the importance of what it was I was meant to do for the world. Yours, as I've heard you've already discovered, is for you to bring fun and snow to children everywhere which is a huge part of an amazing childhood," he smiled at this.

"Thanks Jackie. That helped more than you think," he said and finished off the rest of his plate. The others finished as well. As I got up to clear the table, North spoke.

"So, vat is it that you do anyvays?" he asked. I looked down a moment before picking anything up on the table.

"I've got it," said Anastasia as she got up and cleared the dishes for me. I sat back down.

"A few things actually," I started, taking my words slow so I could word them right. "I am the spirit of Halloween. Or as some call it, All Hallows Eve. I represent fear and all that scares people which is why Anastasia and I are so close with each other," I looked over to her to see her smiling. I gave a small smile back as I turned back to them.

"But why would you want to scare people?" asked the Tooth Fairy. I sighed. This was half the battle if I could get them to understand this half of my job.

"Let's take a walk, shall we?" I asked, getting up and gesturing for them to follow me. They did as I asked. We walked on one of the many worn paths through the pumpkin fields.

"I have to ask that you not mess with the Jack o' Lanterns. I just carved these," I said as we walked. They all nodded but said nothing, waiting for me to go on. I sighed. "The reason why it is that I stand for fear, is not the same reason as my brother. Though it was the same at one point, he lost sight of what an important job it was and just went off the deep end going as power hungry as anyone could get," I explained as we walked. "Without fear, safety and joy and hope cannot exist," I said.

"What do you mean? Why does there have to be fear in the world for people to be happy?" Tooth asked.

"For the same reason that you must know pain to know what pleasure is," I answered. Noting the doubting look on the guardian's faces, I continued. "If someone goes their entire life without ever knowing what fear feels like, what do they become?" I asked them.

"They are brave?" Jack asked.

"They are confident?" North asked.

"Yes. On both of those actually. But the problem here is that if they think there is nothing to fear, they become too confident and too brave to the point where they may become foolish in their actions and they could get hurt. Let me ask you this to clear things up. Why is it that a child looks both ways before crossing the street?"

"Because their parents would get mad at them?" Tooth asked.

"Because they're scared," said Bunny.

"Yes. They are scared. One way or another, there is fear there. They don't walk out into traffic because of fear of what their parents would say or do to them. They are also afraid of getting hit by incoming cars when they become old enough to understand the danger. The fact is, you can't go through life without a little bit of fear. And being scared every once in a while is fun. Otherwise, no one would go into haunted houses around this time of year," I explained. They nodded, and knowing that they were starting to understand made me feel as if there was some hope of not being completely alone and misunderstood anymore.

"So ve got that part of de job. Vat is the other part?" asked North. I looked up.

"We're here," I said. We arrived where I had been at earlier carving pumpkins. I turned to them. "If you want to know what it is that the other half of my job requires, then you won't mind helping me a little," I said. The others looked to one another and nodded.

"Alright, vat is it ve must do?" North asked. I picked up the pumpkin I had held earlier.

"Help me carve the rest of the pumpkins. Halloween is in a couple of days and I could use some assistance. I can't explain what it is that happens on the eve of Halloween, that's something you will have to witness for yourselves to understand. I have plenty of space for each of you if you decide to stay," I offered. They once again looked at each other and nodded. I smiled. "Thank you," I said before handing them their tools to get started with the pumpkins. I sat down and the rest followed suit. After showing them what they needed to do, they got to work scooping out the pumpkin guts and carving faces into the pumpkins. Bunny took a seat next to me on the ground.

"Hey, sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to insult you or Anastasia. It's just that we've been on edge lately," Bunny explained. I gave a small smile and looked to him.

"That makes all of us," I said as I went back to my carving.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, sorry for not updating in a while, there's just been a lot of homework for my classes lately. I know this one is pretty short and I very much apologize for that. I just felt like it would be a good idea to end this chapter where I did. I hope you enjoy and I love all the support!**

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Jackie's POV

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Over the course of the last couple of days to Halloween, the Guardians stayed with me in my house and helped me to carve the final pumpkins. Every now and again, some of Tooth's fairies would come down to check on her and she would see how things were going. Sandy had an issue staying awake at times but always picked up the slack with his sand. Jack absolutely loved to carve the pumpkins and became quite good at it and frequently teased Bunny about his were better than the overgrown rabbit though both looked amazing.

"Done," I said, laying down my tools and looking at the final carved pumpkin of the season. For the first time in years, I was ahead of schedule by an entire day. I looked to the guardians to see their smiles. Despite me not smiling much, I smiled back. I didn't quite know why but there was just something about them being covered in dirt and pumpkin guts with me that made me feel truly at home for the first time in a long time. On the long walk back to the house, Bunny hopped up beside me.

"We really got em' done fast, didn't we?" He asked, smiling. I nodded.

"Sure did. I would have gotten them done on time, it's just that I wouldn't have been able to get much sleep during the night and would have had to wake up early," I said. He nodded, thinking.

"Vhy is it that you seemed so behind schedule this year anyveys?" North asked, coming up on my other side.

"Well, during the time that Pitch was causing problems, he stole some of my power though he wasn't aware of it. I believe that he thinks I'm dead by now," I said, pausing a moment before continuing. "As it is true that we used to do the same thing, we were at a level power so long as we worked together. Well, when he figured out that if he put both of our power together into one body, the power would be absolute disaster for everyone else, he took it. And almost killed me. That was the first time he was defeated by the guardians. Since you guys didn't know about me back then, you didn't bother going after me. That was when the roles of Pitch and I split from each other though since we still stand for fear, only one of us can be at power at one time. I'm not one hundred percent sure where it was that he got the extra power to overthrow me for that amount of time earlier in the year but it was enough to almost kill me. If anymore of the guardians had been forgotten, I might have died," I explained. I could see out of my peripheral vision all of them nod at the same time.

"So, in a way, you were also keeping Pitch from going full power?" Jack asked, hovering beside North. I nodded.

"Just barely. If Pitch had succeeded in killing me, there would have been no hope for survival for anyone," I said.

"But there is alveys hope so long as the children believe," said North. I looked down as we got to the house and stopped walking.

"It wouldn't have mattered if all the people in the entire world had believed in you. If he had gotten my power…..he would have been able to plunge the entire world into nothing but pure darkness and putting everyone into a never-ending, never-waking nightmare."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey everybody! I really hope you're enjoying the story! I hope I've been updating fast enough for you guys. I really hope you enjoy this chapter as it is one of my favorites so far. Enjoy!**

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Bunnymund's POV

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Looking around, I noticed that I wasn't the only one who had shivers down their spin from her comment.

"You mean, everyone in the world would be asleep? Like, forever?" Tooth asked, her wings fluttering nervously. Jackie nodded grimly.

"Yes. I'm not sure if it would put spirits like all of us asleep but that's not something I really want to know the answer to," she said, starting back to the house. Her eyes twitched to the side a little and she smiled to herself. _That was weird._

"Hey, Jackie. I trust ya and all but what was with that smile?" I asked. I didn't fully trust her. Especially after what she just said and then smiling like that. She turned back to us, still walking as we followed.

"Anastasia can speak to me through our thoughts and was just saying that it would be interesting to see what kind of nightmares Pitch is having," she said chuckling as she spaced out again. "It seems like right now, she's giving him a nightmare of him a pink and white tutu surrounded by smiling, giggling girls," she said laughing hysterically.

"Wait, are you telling me that Pitch is still out there?" I asked, my anger rising. She stopped laughing to look at us in a serous manner.

"Of course he is. He has to be. Without him, I cannot survive. Believe me, if there was a way to get rid of him for good, I would but I can't. My job is too important to just kill myself off by killing him," she explained.

"But if you dying means he becomes stronger, vhy is it not the same de other vhy around?" North asked, voicing what we were all thinking.

"And how do you know that would happen?" asked Jack.

"Good questions. The reason I know this would happen is because there was a time in which I almost killed him. But as I was about to deliver my final blow, a shudder went through me, the same feeling I got when I first became a spirit. As for why it's different with him getting rid of me, I can only guess. The closest theory I have ever had to what I believe is the truth is because he is The Nightmare King. He supplies the fear while I'm the one who has the job for it. This is, again, the best I can come up with. And so long as he is contained, there is nothing we need to worry about," she said as we came up to the house. We could smell the amazing cooking as we walked through the front door.

Jackie's POV

* * *

"Remember when you were talking about how Pitch almost killed you the first time he went off the deep end?" Jack asked. I nodded. "Doesn't he know that he can kill you that way?" he asked as they sat down. I thought about this a moment as I set the table.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. If he does, then there's a chance he's so power hungry that he's willing to try to kill me to gain that power. However, there's a chance for him to be turned good if the reason why he didn't go all out is because as much as he wants more power, he's unwilling to kill me to get it," I explained as we started eating. "If he doesn't know this, then he may have forgotten me or doesn't know that I'm still alive. That's part of the reason why leaving here is so convenient," I finished. Jack nodded, satisfied with my answer. Anastasia joined us by coming through the window as she did for every meal in between sending bad dreams out into the world. I turned to her.

"Any good nightmares today besides Pitch?" I asked, laughing a little. She smiled a wicked smile.

"Oh yes. Plenty," she sat back a moment and looked towards the table with guilt. "Though, I may have gone too far with one…" she said in a low tone. Everyone looked at her with a little apprehension.

"If you hurt any children, I swear I'll…" Bunny started but stopped when he saw the tears in her eyes. Feeling her emotions was part of my bond with her and I could sense very well that she was very torn up. I looked at Bunny, ready to defend her but stopped when I noticed that he had backed down and looked actually sorry that he had jumped to conclusions. "Please. Continue," he said, lowering his voice. She nodded, wiping her eyes and clearing her throat before speaking.

"While just running around, looking for a couple more people to teach a lesson to on my way back home, I came across a farm. There were a couple of horses there and they looked beyond unhealthy. One of the females even had a little foal. They were all nothing but skin and bones, like they hadn't been fed in weeks," she said with a shuddering breath as she continued. "I went to help them in my human form by dragging over some of the hay bales from the fields that the people there failed to bring for them. The people who lived there came in as they started eating," she said, pausing for a moment to gather her wits about her. She had a tendency to let her powers run wild when she got worked up or emotional. "The man grabbed the whip off the wall and started hitting the horses with it, leaving scratches all over their bodies. I…I just couldn't take it! I transformed into my true form and forced him into a deep sleep with the worst nightmares of all of his fears. After a couple of minutes, he stopped moving," she paused again. "I don't know if I killed him or not," she said quietly, hugging her arms around herself. Everything was quiet. I closed my eyes. One of them started to say something but stopped when I put my hand up.

"Jackie? Please don't, I don't want to know…"

"If you don't know, you'll never be free," I said before delving into her mind and going out into the minds of the horses she came into contact with on the farm.

 _Good afternoon_ , I said to them using almost the same method Anastasia and I use to communicate to each other when we were apart. At first, the horse bucked at the sound of my voice in her head until she calmed down after understanding what was going on.

 _Oh hello. You must be friends with that wonderful spirit that helped us, aren't you_?

 _I am. Her name is Anastasia. She did not mean to harm the human as much as she did. Tell me, how is he?_

 _He was taken away in one of those moving boxes with lights on top of them but he was still alive when he was taken away. Other people came and gave us food and said that they were coming back for us to take us somewhere else that's better._

 _Thank you very much and I wish you and your foal the best of luck in your new life._

 _Please tell her thank you for us. We wouldn't have made it much longer without her help._

 _I will. Take care._

I came out of the horse's head and back into my own as Anastasia was about to go into a breakdown.

"Anastasia, it's alright. The man is okay. He was taken to the hospital but he's alive. The horse also asked me to thank you for your help. They are being moved to a place where they can be properly taken care of," I told her. She looked up at me.

"I still can't believe I let go like that though. I need to have better control or I'm no better than Pitch," she said, though she stopped crying. Bunny came over and hugged her, taking all of us by surprise.

"It's alright, Anastasia. You're not anything like Pitch, trust me. He wouldn't have used his powers to help others like you did. I mean sure you laid it on a little strong it sounds like but it sounds like ya did the right thing," Bunny said. She looked up at him as he pulled away from her.

"You really think that?" she asked. He smiled.

"Of course I do. I probably would have done something too if that was rabbits I saw someone mistreating," he said. She wiped her eyes one more time and finally smiled.

"Thank you Bunny," she said, hugging him. After a moment of being stunned, Bunny hugged her back and we all went back to eating. The rest of the night was mostly silent as I managed to track down the man who abused the horses. He was at a hospital in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. Listening to what the doctors were saying, he was going to be there the entire night. I filed that into my memory bank for later.

After dinner, we had a night of telling stories from our jobs in our early days and laughing and having a good time. I had never laughed so hard until Jack and Bunny told us the story about how Jack managed to shove a carrot in Bunny's nose and how Bunny dropped an egg into the back of Jack's shirt. We were told about the time that Sandy had accidentally put almost everyone to sleep at a little boy named Jamie's house. Even the time when North's elves accidently tripped him making him fall into the paint the yetis were using on the toys. According to North, his beard was light blue for three weeks afterwards. We talked late into the night until yawns started to overtake the room.

"Vell, it has been a vonderfull night but I think it is time to turn in for de night," North said, getting up. Everyone did the same as we said our goodnights and went to our rooms. Me however, I went up to the roof through the trap door in the attic. I was alone on the roof for a few minutes until I felt a presence behind me.

"I thought you were going to sleep," I said.

"I heard ya get up," said Bunny. I nodded as he sat down next to me. We sat in silence for a few minutes.

"That was amazing," I said, breaking the silence. He looked at me confused.

"What was?"

"What you did in there with Anastasia. It usually takes me a while to get her settled down like you did in only a few minutes," I told him. He nodded.

"Maybe she just finds me more relatable?" He guessed. I shrugged.

"I don't know. I think she's gotten used to you being here. Everyone. So have I really," I said. I looked over to the far left of the field where what looked like a deep fog settled over a piece of the land but only behind the high barbed wire fence.

"What is that over there? We were all meanin' to ask ya," he said. I smiled.

"You'll find out tomorrow," I said. He nodded and yawned.

"I'm goin' to get some shut eye. Try not to stay up too late," he said and went back inside. I looked up to the ceiling of my world, missing the sky more than I had in a long time. When was the last time I had left? When was the last time I got to see my old friend Manny? Too long I decided. I made a decision right then and there. I was going out for the first time in a couple of decades on my holiday. I stood, pacing as I was about to finish what I started at the dinner table.


	6. Chapter 6

Jackie's POV

* * *

I paced for a couple more seconds before standing perfectly still and closed my eyes. Since the guardians had been there for a couple of days, I could get into their minds easily enough, that is to say that I didn't do that. I could easily sense their presence and felt around until I was one hundred percent sure that all of them were asleep and wouldn't wake up until morning. I opened my eyes before sitting down crossed-legged and meditated. I focused my energy on attempting to breach the mind of the man Anastasia came into contact with earlier. It was easier than the first time considering that I had traced the line of his mind through that of the horse's earlier and could now get back to it easier than before.

Even though no one believed in the spirit that was Halloween, in someone's dreams, they had no choice but to notice me. He was sound asleep and I would make sure he stayed that way until I got my point across.

I entered his mind, forcing him into a dream as he was given medicine to give him a dreamless sleep. I was stronger than any serum that the humans could come up with.

I conjured up a never-ending black room with a sort of mist that always accompanied me when people needed correcting. I saw the man standing in front of me, looking around confused. Normally, people wouldn't really be able to think about why they were in a dream but that seemed to be another trait that my abilities took on. Not only were they totally aware that they were in a dream, they also found that it was a very vivid one when they woke up, sometimes asking themselves if it had been real or not.

"What's going on? Where am I? I'm not supposed to be dreaming!" He said, the fear eminent in his voice as he looked around, not seeing me at first.

"That is because I do not wish for you to sleep peacefully just yet," I told him, stepping forward. His head snapped up to look at me.

"What? Who are you? What are you? What do you want with me?"

 _Why do they always ask the same questions?_ I resisted the urge to roll my eyes or shake my head.

"Who and what I am is none of your concern. What is my concern though, is your lack of care for animals," I told him, taking a step forward.

"What? You mean those horses?" He said, relaxing and going back to whatever attitude he would seem to usually adopt while awake. "Those stupid pigs don't need that much food. No living thing does," he said and took a step towards me. "And this is _my_ dream so I can control it and you are out of here!" He said, charging forward, about to hit me. I smirked at him. My eyes flashed purple and he collapsed.

"So what you are saying is that you would eat as much as the horses? Then why is it that you are nearly dead?" I asked, circling him.

"So…hungry…what did you…do to me?" He said, writhing in his weak state.

"You said that the horses didn't need much to eat. So I decided I would allow you to feel their hunger if you had as much to eat as they had in the last week. It seems to me from your reaction that you eat better than they do meaning that under your definition, you are also a pig," I explained, stopping in front of him.

"P-please. Make it stop," he groaned.

"Very well," I said and snapped my fingers. He stopped shaking and stood once more, no more than two feet away from me. He looked at me with a fierce hatred and charged me. I blinked and appeared behind him as he fell to the ground. He turned to face me.

"Who are you?!" He demanded, a mix of fear and hatred in his voice. I looked to him with an even expression.

"The person who will continue to haunt you unless you agree to change your ways. No more harming animals in any way, shape or form. Or there _will_ be consequences," I said in a dangerous voice.

"F-fine," he said, getting up once more and obviously failing at keeping his body from shaking. I lifted my hand for him to shake. "I'm not going to touch you," he said, stepping away from me.

"You have no choice. I will not allow you to wake until you shake my hand," I said evenly. Visibly shaking worse than before, he cautiously walked up to me.

"What will happen if I do?" He asked, attentively. I gave him a death stare.

"I'd be more concerned with what will happen if you don't," I told him. He stepped forward and shook my hand. A black light with a powerful force blew forth from our hands. He tried releasing his grip only to realize he was stuck. Just as soon as it started, it stopped and he pulled away.

"W-what was that?!" I looked him full in the face.

"Our agreement. If you do not do as I have told you, you will fall ill and must find some way for you to redeem yourself or you will die. I will also be back every night to keep tabs on you as well as give you nightmares as I see fit," I told him.

"That wasn't part of the deal!" He yelled, breaking into a cold sweat.

"No, it's part of _my_ deal. You are to be kind to animals and you must have at least one at a time to take care of or you will have breached our deal. Do you understand?" I asked him. He could only nod. I nodded back to him. "Good. Remember what I have said." And with that, I left his mind.

A few moments later, I opened my eyes. I waited for my vision to focus. After proving to myself that I wasn't going to fall over from how I was sitting, I went back inside to my bedroom. Looking at my pumpkin clock on the wall, I noticed that an hour had passed since I had gone up to the roof.

"Looks like you were busy tonight."

"I just needed to get a message across. You know how I feel about people like that," I said, turning around to face the nightmare.

"I know but did you have to do that after what I did?" Anastasia asked.

"Yes. He was still stuck in his old ways. At least this way, I can keep tabs on him and make sure that he can become a better person so I don't have to deal with him here," I told her. She nodded her understanding.

"You should get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day," she said. I nodded, smiling.

"And you should go out and give people last minute ideas for Halloween," I said. She smiled and nodded. She turned into a shadow and slid past me out the window. I watched her go as she turned back to her nightmare form and went out into the world above. I sighed and turned towards my bed. "And tomorrow, I get what I've been missing for so long and loose what I've only just begun to get used to," I said to myself before pulling the blankets over me for the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Jackie's POV

* * *

The next morning, I woke up earlier than any other day, just as I always did year after year. Though today was to be a bitter sweet one than any other year before this for a few reasons; I was going out on my own holiday and the guardians were going to leave after tonight. I sat on the edge of my bed for a few minutes reflecting on the time I had spent with them. Tooth had been all worried about me when I had accidentally cut myself with my carving knife. North had told me stories of when he was just starting out as a guardian and spoke of the mistakes he had made on presents over the years. Sandy had given me the best dreams I had had in forever. Jack and Bunny had made me laugh more than a few times with their shenanigans. There was the talks that I would have with Jack about how he had felt before the guardians came along and how he still felt a little lonely at times, which really hit home with me though I never said anything. But most of all, there was Bunny. He was a good spirit and seemed to be very special to Anastasia for him to have calmed her down so much for unleashing her true powers. Each guardian had come to mean so much to me, I wasn't sure about how watching them leave would make me feel. I wasn't going to keep them here forever, they also had jobs of their own to take care of and I wasn't going to stand in their way. Especially North. Christmas wasn't far behind Halloween after all. I just hoped that his being here to help me didn't ruin anything for any of them. I finally got up and got dressed in a black hoodie I always wore for my holiday. By a glance, you would think I was a grim reaper of sorts with the way the hood tilted and hid my face. I wore black pants and black combat boots. This outfit was necessary for a few reasons, one of those being that it was going to be cold where I was going today.

I walked downstairs to see the wonderful feast that the magic of the house had prepared. On my holiday, I was always drained when things got started so I needed a lot to eat but by the looks of it, there was more food than usual due to the guardian's presence here. I set the table as they started coming down the stairs from their rooms.

"Vhat a vonderful smell! It looks like de house vent all out today!" North exclaimed as he walked into the kitchen. As I got the plates out, Tooth came over and gently took them from me.

"Here, I'll take care of it. Today's your big day so you should relax while you still can," she said with her usual big smile. I smiled back as the others started coming in. Sandy signed some things with his sand that indicated to how I was dressed. I nodded.

"This outfit is especially for today. It helps with my job that falls onto today," I said, smoothing out my hoodie.

"I like it. It makes you look like some kind of death figure," said Jack, taking his seat as Tooth set the table and laid out the food. I nodded, smiling again.

"Exactly. You'll find out soon enough why it's like this," I told him as we dug in. Anastasia came in a few moments later and took a seat next to Bunny. I smiled, knowing that she had become close to someone other than me but then thought of how I would be alone once more once they left. I worried that she would end up closing herself up just like she once had when she first found me. I kept my eyes on my food to avoid looking at any of the guardians. I was afraid that if I looked any of them in the eye right now while there was minimal noise, that I might start crying.

After breakfast, we made our way down the familiar trail full of carved pumpkins to the spot that we had finished them. I could sense that everyone was giddy with excitement but no one said anything. I stood still for a few moments before turning to them.

"Stand over there," I told them, indicating to an open spot a couple feet behind where I was standing. They did as they were told.

"What happens now?" asked Jack.

"We wait."

"For?"

Bunny's POV

* * *

The wind blew then stopped. It did so again. Then it blew so hard, it nearly knocked all of us over. Anastasia stood with us and nodded to Jackie. We watched as she nodded back to her, turned away from us and put up her hood.

"Watch," Anastasia told us, pointing to where the fence with the fog was. Jackie turned towards it and held out her arms to her side as the wind picked up, bringing the fog with it. As the fog drew closer, I started to notice that it wasn't fog at all. It was ghosts!

"They are spirits of the dead. Those who are not able to move onto the next plane of existence because they have something left to take care of from their living days. During this time of the year, the veil between the two worlds are the thinnest and they are able to go back for three days to try to get things done. If they do not, they are stuck here to try again next year," Anastasia told us, going back to her nightmare form. We looked on in wonder at what we saw in front of us.

"Vhat is happening to her?" North asked, becoming alarmed. Looking at everyone else's faces, it looked as if they wanted to ask the same thing.

"She is taking the souls into her own body as a way to make them able to go out into the world. To put it simply, she is like a ticket booth. They cannot leave without checking out through her. It also makes them strong enough to be able to go back out into the living world," Anastasia said. Watching the spirits being sucked into our friend's body was horrifying and awe-inspiring all at the same time. It was disturbing for the fact that she was taking what was left of those people into her but amazing for the fact that she would be so selfless as to give up her own body and energy to help other people. Faces were hard to make out and then all at once, the spirits stopped coming.

Jackie's POV

* * *

The strain on my body was just as bad as it was every year though by the time that the end of the spirits came, it was apparent to me that there was less than the year before. They completely disappeared inside of me for a few moments before I was able to dispel them all at the same time from my body. They flew rapidly into pumpkins they liked and took them over, turning them all into pumpkin spirits, the faces transforming into those carved into the world above. It only took a couple of seconds for all of them to find what they were looking for. I raised my arms once more to cast my spell to set them free into the world.

"Spirits! Rise and return to from where you came! Help yourselves to move onto the next plane!" I shouted out as the ceiling of my world became that of a purple swirling portal. The spirit pumpkins flew up to the portal with a speed than should have been impossible for anything to move at. As soon as they were all through, the portal evaporated and I started to fall. I felt their hands on me immediately as I collapsed onto soft sand. Tooth moved around the front of me.

"Are you alright?" she asked. I nodded as I slowly sat up on the sand.

"It's okay guys, this happens every year," I said as I gathered up my remaining strength and stood.

"That. Was. Amazing!" Jack exclaimed. I smiled my thanks as they all congratulated me on my successful year.

"I'm not done yet. I have to be here on November second when those that have failed and died within the year return. We pretty much do the same thing as we just did, just in reverse," I explained as I started walking slowly to the house.

"So what's with the hoodie?" Jack asked me, walking close to me. I noticed how much closer they walked despite the fact that there was no longer any pumpkins to walk on. I knew they were doing this just in case I collapsed again.

"It's actually to help me with all the spirits going through me. It changes my form into one that acts like the body of a human spirit so that I can better withstand the massive amount of energy and ectoplasm within my own," I explained. He nodded, understanding. Everyone was silent as we walked back to the house. When we got there, food enough for me was almost ready.

"Hey, what's with the kitchen? We already had breakfast," Bunny said as walked in.

"It's actually just for me. I need to eat again after I do that because of how much energy is needed for the spirits," I said, taking a seat. Anastasia set the table as the food finished cooking. There was chicken and steak for this meal of mine of which I ate everything while the guardians sat and talked amongst themselves.

"So what now?" Bunny asked as I finished. I put the dishes in the sink and pulled off my hoodie.

"Something I haven't done in a long time," I said. They looked at me with curiosity. "I'm going out on my holiday."


	8. Chapter 8

Bunny's POV

* * *

 _Is she for real? She doesn't go out on her own holiday? I mean yeah I don't interact with kids on mine much but at least I stick around to see what happens._

"Vhat do you mean exactly? You don't go out on your holiday?" North asked, seemingly reading my mind. She shook her head.

"Why is that? I would think it would make your other job easier. You know, making sure that kids are safe and not allowing them to run out into the street without looking?" Tooth asked. She looked down a little.

 _She's hiding something, I can feel it._

Jackie's POV

* * *

I couldn't help but listen to Bunny's thoughts. And yes, I was hiding something. I had been hiding for a long time. Manny saw me at my worst one night and even though it was so long ago, I had no way of knowing if he had forgiven me or not.

"It's actually the same as it is for Sandy, Tooth. Even though he is not out there actively sending out his sand, his job is still done just not as strong. And to be honest, even though I specialize in fear, I can make anyone experience any emotion without warning if I wanted to. Usually, I don't because it serves no purpose for me. Unless of course I'm calming a child from having a bad dream," I admitted.

"Wow. We could have really used that during the battle with Pitch," said Jack. I smiled.

"Yes, well I was sort of," I put my hand up as if I was holding my throat up by a noose, "under the rope so to speak," I said, getting a laugh from everyone despite the severity of the situation. I could feel that they were more comfortable about talking about my almost-death and my brother since they first found out. And although I could feel that Bunny's suspicion was gone on the surface, I could feel that it wouldn't take much to bring it back up. "So, what do you guys usually do for Halloween?" I asked, curious as to what the guardians of all spirits do on this holiday. They looked at each other for a moment.

"Actually, we've never really done much on this one in the past," Tooth admitted. Sandy nodded, signing that he usually just made sure that the kids went to sleep at a certain time so they wouldn't be up the entire night eating candy. "You see, I would be doing work double time because of all the caramel apples that the children would lose their teeth in," Tooth said, looking a bit guilty. North scratched the back of his head.

"I vas always busy at de pole trying to catch up on some toy making."

"And me with my eggs," said Bunny. I looked to Jack.

"I kinda always went out and made the haunted houses seem a little more haunted if you catch my drift. _Well, at least someone did something fun for my holiday._ I thought though I wasn't disappointed at any of them. They all had jobs to do and that was definitely something I could respect. I voiced this to them and they seemed to relax a bit.

"But not dis year!" North exclaimed. "Dis year, we will spend de entire holiday vith you!" All of them nodded. I was both scared and relieved by this statement. I was afraid for the things that they might find out about me but relieved that I wouldn't be alone again for my holiday. I smiled regardless.

"Thanks you guys," I said, smiling despite my nervousness.

"You are very velcome, though I think we all better dress up othervise it might be hard to explain vhy some people are seeing Santa and the Easter Bunny and some cannot," said North. I nodded.

"But even if we do dress up, some people will still be able to see us even if they don't recognize us," said Bunny.

"Actually," I spoke up, and looking a little sheepishly at Jack for not saying this earlier, "if you're with me, this is the one day a year that I can make any holiday spirit visible to anyone and everyone." Everyone was dead silent. They just looked at me. "The reason I didn't say something about being able to do that sooner is because I just figured that some would be angry with me for not seeking them out earlier than now," I said, shooting a glance at Jack. I was surprised to see that their faces were grins, not scowls.

"No, no, no dat is not it at all! Ve vere just surprised dat you could have such a power," North told me honestly, resting a large hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah, really! It's cool Jackie," Jack said. I listened to his thoughts just to make sure that he was alright and to my great relief, he was as okay as he said he was. I relaxed a little. I nodded.

"Now," North said, rubbing his hands together. I think we should all get dressed up for today," he said. I smiled.

"And I've got just the thing," I said. "Follow me." I lead them down the stairs into the basement where I kept every Halloween costume known to man.

"Wow! What is this place?" Tooth asked.

"This is the costume warehouse as I call it. Every costume that has ever been made, thought of, dreamt of or planned out is all right here," I said.

"This place is amazing!" Jack exclaimed, running from rack to rack, trying to look at everything at one time. He then came to the back wall. "Wow, guys come here! Take a look at these!" All of the guardians abandoned what they were looking at to come and stand by Jack.

"These are beautiful!" Tooth said as she came across the most elegant of all fairy costumes that the world had ever seen.

"And these!" Bunny said as he found some animal costumes that looked almost real. North found some yeti and elf costumes and Sandy found ones that were made in the likeness of all the holiday spirits. They all calmed down in an awe-inspired trance when they saw these.

"Jackie, did you know about these? Where did they come from?" Tooth asked me. I looked down, a blush spreading across my face.

"This is my night hobby," I admitted, shuffling my feet around a little. Their jaws dropped.

"You did all dis?" North asked, his voice barely above a whisper as if talking too loudly would break the spell of the magical moment. I nodded, finally meeting his eyes. "They are simply vonderful, vhy did you not tell us about this place sooner?" he asked. I just shrugged.

"I've never really been one to boast about anything. It just seems like whenever I make a costume, they look more real than any others and they change to fit any size comfortably," I explained.

"Well now there's only just one problem," said Bunny. I frowned.

"What would that be?" I asked. He smiled.

"Figuring out what we're going to dress as," he said as the others cheered and agreed. The smile came back to my face as they started talking about what they were going to do. About thirty minutes later, they were ready to go.

Tooth had decided to go as a princess (big surprise), Sandy as a vampire and North decided to go as one of his yetis. Bunny decided to dress as a werewolf while Jack decided to go as the April Fool. I almost laughed at seeing the guardians like this. They dressed in my own creations so the outfits fit them perfectly and they all looked absolutely wonderful.

"You guys look so good!" I said. They thanked me but then looked at me strangely.

"So what are you goin' as?" Bunny asked.

"Yeah, you've been helping us all this time but you haven't decided yet at all!" Tooth said. I smiled.

"I'll be right back," I said and went upstairs to my room while they decided to wait in the living room. I changed into an all-black outfit. Black sneakers, a black long sleeved shirt with a hood attached, black pants, two black metal bracelets, one on each wrist and a black choker necklace. I walked down to them.

"I thought you said you were going to change?" Tooth asked. I smirked.

"I did," I said as I transformed into a real vampire then into a real werewolf. I then turned back into myself. "You see, I can transform into anything, however, if I don't have the right clothes on, they won't transform with me. Everything that I'm wearing right now is enchanted to be able to transform with me into appropriate clothing of whatever character or being I chose to turn into," I explained. They were obviously wowed by this and spent some time asking me to turn into other things which I did happily, gaining ideas of what I could turn into for my holiday. Finally, we decided to head out into the world as almost everywhere would be starting the holiday.

"Wait a second," Bunny said as we stepped outside. "How are we going to get out of here anyways? I thought the only way out was through that hole we fell down?" he asked.

"There are other ways," I assured before turning and whistling for the carriage that brought them from their original way in to the house. It appeared within seconds and we all piled in. The only difference this time was the fact that it was being pulled by Anastasia.

"This sure brings back some memories," she said as she started to pull us across the field. We went to where I had released the spirits from earlier. There, a portal opened up to the living world and away we went into the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Jackie's POV

* * *

I relished the feeling of the rush through the portal into the woods above my home. For a few seconds after we stopped moving, I sat motionless, breathing in the fresh air, eyes closed. After a few seconds, I opened my eyes and jumped down. The others had already filed out on their own and I nodded to Anastasia. She disappeared, taking the carriage with her as we stood around. Judging by the light in the day, even in the forest, it was only an hour or two past noon.

"Alvright, vhere to first?" North asked, more excited than I had seen him on the night we had cookies. I smiled.

"Well, since it's not dark out yet, I usually would just walk some neighborhoods just to see the decorations people put up for my holiday," I answered.

"Alvright then! Let us be off!" he said, walking off in the direction away from town.

"Um, North? The way outta the woods is this way," Bunny said, pointing in the opposite direction.

"Oh right, I knew dat," he said and quickly led us the other way. As we started to come out of the dead woods that resided above my home, we started into the forest that was alive with colorful autumn leaves and animals milling about.

"Hold on, wait a second. If people can see us, wouldn't they be able to see that we're not human? I mean yeah these costumes hide who were are pretty well but people will still be able to see that I have fur and that Tooth has wings," Bunny said, making a very valid point. Tooth looked down, disappointed. I smiled.

"Don't worry, I've got that covered too," I said as I took out a black pouch from my back pocket and opened it. "This is something I've held onto for a while actually though I never knew why. If I just throw this on those who are not human-looking, it will change your form into that of a human for twenty four hours," I said as they looked to me with wonder. North clapped an arm around my shoulders.

"You just keep on vith de surprises!" he said, laughing his big laugh. I laughed with him. _You have no idea._ I thought to myself as I shook myself out of my thoughts. There would be no way to actually avoid Manny tonight due to it being a full moon. I knew they would find out one way or another. Or not. Maybe Manny had forgiven me? Maybe he wouldn't say anything to the guardians. Maybe he would let me go just this once. At least I hoped he would. I didn't want anything bad to happen on my first night out in forever.

"Okay, stand still you guys," I said as I took out a handful of the powder and blew it from my hand. The stuff immediately settled on them, casting its spell. In a matter of minutes, North transformed back into how he was while he was still alive: beefy with muscle, a darker colored beard but with still the same eyes as always. Tooth simply lost her wings and feathers and had blond hair instead. Sandy stayed the same height but his skin color looked more human rather than the sand color he always was. His hair changed into a more normal color of blond. Jack's form barely changed as his hair color went from white to dark brown. The final and most alarming change of the guardians was Bunny. He transformed into a large man, built with much muscle. He had the same eye color and had brown hair darker than Jack's. As everyone looked around at each other, all jaws dropped at the sight of Bunny. He finally noticed everyone's stares.

"What's wrong with you guys? We all changed somehow," he said. I could barely contain myself.

Bunny's POV

* * *

They all looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo. Although I will admit, it was a strange change in my legs and ears and not having a tail.

"Bunny," Tooth started. "You…look…nice…" she said, trailing off.

"Yes, he does! Very nice! Who knows? Maybe you will find a date for tonight, eh?" North said, bumping me with his arm. I blushed. "Nah I am just kidding," he said and started walking away. I looked at Jackie who was still inspecting me.

"What? You never see a human before?" I asked. For some reason, I just had to tease her. I blushed and spluttered a little.

"I…I just wasn't expecting that big of a change," she said, looking away and following North as the others started walking as well. I tried walking, just to find out that it was different than what I was used to. Jackie was the first one to notice this and walked back to me.

"Come on, I got ya," she said, looping my arm over her shoulder, taking the steps as slow as I needed. I blushed a little until I got the hang of walking like this. She let go only when she knew that I was alright to walk on my own.

"Thanks," I said, a little embarrassed. She smiled at me.

"It's no problem," she said, walking to catch up with the others as I did the same.

Jackie's POV

* * *

 _You like him._ Anastasia was already in my head.

 _I do not._

 _Do too._

 _Do not._

 _Do too._

 _I do not! Okay? His transformation just wasn't what I expected. I could speculate about Tooth because fairies still have humanly shaped bodies and I knew what the others looked like before they were chosen but I had no idea Bunny would look so…_

 _Hot?_

 _Yeah ho…oh no you don't!_

 _Ha! Got you!_

 _It doesn't matter, it's only temporary. Besides, I don't like him like that. And what about you? You seem pretty fond of him._

 _Only as a friend. I mean, it is nice to talk to someone else besides you every now and then._

 _I know what you mean. It's going to be pretty lonely after today._

 _I know. We've both gotten so used to them being there, I'm not sure if I can let them leave._ I heard her chuckle a little in my head at this. I shook my head as if she was there talking with me, face to face.

 _You know we have to let them go._

 _I know but still? What if we could have them around for the entire year? Why must it only be for this time only?_

 _You know why. They have their lives and I have mine. They have their jobs and I have mine. Not to mention that they'll freak out when they find out what I've done in the past._

 _Jackie…_

 _Don't 'Jackie' me! Look, they have to leave, there's no way around that!_ She was silent after my mental outburst. The others didn't seem to notice my discomfort though I had become quite good at covering up my uneasiness and discomfort around others. I was always able to.

Bunny's POV

* * *

I knew from the few days we had spent together when she was upset. She would space out, almost as if she removed herself from that space of time to escape whatever it was that was bothering her. She was doing that now. I watched her closely as she was still able to avoid walking into trees or the others. I started to worry. I had felt something off about her ever since she said that she wanted to go out on her holiday. _What would make her change what she's doing if she's never done it before in the past?_

 _Because of you guys._ I almost hopped out of my skin as Anastasia's voice entered my mind. The others seemed to be too distracted talking to notice this and Jackie was still in that trance she was in.

 _How can I hear you? I thought only you and Jackie had that?_

 _Nope. Open-minded people can hear my but you've spent enough time around me to be able to think back to me._

 _Okay, whatever. What's wrong with Jackie? Why did she want to go out on her holiday? She doesn't seem to even like being away from home._

 _It's a long story that I'm not supposed to tell. But one thing I will let you in on is that I'm not the only one who loses control of her powers sometimes._ With that, I could feel her leave my mind. I tried to ask about what she was talking about but there was no answer. I looked at Jackie who started to interact with the others again. It looked like if I wanted answers, I was going to have to get them myself.

* * *

 **I decided to end this chapter here just because it felt right to do so. I really hope you guys are enjoying the story. Let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

Bunny's POV

* * *

As we walked, I watched Jackie as closely as I was able to get away with. I saw her and Tooth glance over at me often so it made it very difficult. I decided to try to figure out where it was she was planning on going to look for decorations.

"So where are we headin' anyways?" I asked her.

"Wherever the forest ends," she said, seeming to not have a care in the world. Thanks to Anastasia and paying attention to Jackie, I could tell that wasn't the truth. She was good at hiding her emotions, I'll give her that.

"So you do not remember vhat it is that is outside dis forest?" North asked her. She shook her head.

"Not really. It's been so long since I was away from home, a lot of things can change in a couple hundred years," she said. We all looked at her at the same time with the same incredulous expressions.

"You mean that you haven't left your house in that long of a time?" Tooth asked her. She shook her head. "Why?" she asked.

"I just never really felt like it. Sending the spirits out always took too much out of me even after I had my second meal," she said it like it was the truth and it may have been for some years but I could sense a lie when it was told. The others seemed to believe it except for North who always knew when someone lied. He reacted the same as everyone else but I knew better. He knew she was hiding something too.

"Hey, North? Can I talk to ya a second? About somethin'…personal," I asked him. I hopped that she wouldn't pick up on what it was that I really wanted to talk to him about. North understood though and just **_had_** to make something of it.

"Ah, Bunny, if you wanted to know about vemen why didn't you just say so?" he asked, trying to be as embarrassing as possible. I growled a little under my breath and we walked away from the rest of the group until I knew we were out of hearing range.

"Why did you have to say all that?!" I said in an infuriated whisper. He grabbed my shoulders.

"Did you vant her to suspect or not?" he asked me. I shook myself out of his grip.

"Honestly, I think she already knows we know she's lying. Look, all I know is that Anastasia has indicated that she's lost control in the past too. I think we need to find out what it is. Even if it may have happened so long ago, it still seems to be bothering her, whatever it is," I said. North looked at me thoughtfully. "What?"

"Oh nothing, is just dat I have never seen you so perceptive of keeping an eye on someone like dis before," he answered.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. I absolutely had no idea of what he was talking about.

"I think dat if it was anyone else being bothered by something, I do not think you would notice. At least not the way you notice vith her," he said.

"What are you implying, mate?" I asked, getting a little worked up. He laid a hand on my shoulder.

"In all the time we have known each other, my friend, I have never seen you notice the tiny details of someone like dis before. I think, at the very least, she has made you start thinking of more than just yourself. To pay attention more to others," he said. I was about to protest when I actually stopped to think about it. The first time that we met, she didn't bother to attack me. She just dodged and waited until I was done. Then she did the same thing on Jack's outburst the first meal that we had ate together. She taught me to wait and watch rather than just to jump in as I usually did with situations. I looked back up to North who had that look on his face that said, 'see? I told you'. I sighed.

"You're right, okay? You're right. Bein' around her has changed more than just a few things," I said, gesturing to how I was now human rather than a rabbit. He laughed at that and I smiled.

"Let us work together to find out what is causing her such pain," he said to me. I nodded with a smile as we rejoined the others.


	11. Chapter 11

Jackie's POV

* * *

I knew that they weren't talking about girls as North wanted us to believe. Looking over at Tooth, I noticed that she was looking at Jack with dreamy eyes as he was attempting to "talk" with Sandy. I was the only one that seemed to understand him at all. I elbowed Tooth a little. She looked up, startled that I had caught her staring at Jack.

"So, when are you going to tell him?" I asked her, smirking a little. She blushed. It was more obvious without her feathers.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" she said, trailing off. I gave her a look. She sighed and slouched a little. "I just don't know what to say to him about it. It just seems like if I'm anything to him, I'm more like a mom," she said, obviously dejected by this thought.

"Honestly Tooth, you're like a mother to everyone and that's by no means a bad thing. I think you ought to wait and see what happens. You never know," I said, trying to make her feel better. At least, without using my abilities. Which it seemed like I did because she smiled.

"You're right. I mean we haven't known each other that long and we will live forever so I guess there's really no rush," she said. I smiled and nodded. She looked around before speaking again. "So what about you and Bunny?" she asked, giving me a coy smile. I felt my face get a little warm.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. She smiled more.

"I saw the way you looked at him when he changed into a human," she said. I smirked back at her.

"So did you," she blushed a little and her expression turned sheepish.

"I guess it just surprised me more than anything," she said, scratching the back of her head.

"Same. I think I was expecting something different, that's for sure. I wasn't expecting him to be tall or have that many muscles or…" I looked at Tooth to see her pointing behind me. "And he's standing right behind me isn't he?" She nodded.

Bunny's POV

* * *

I was coming back from talking with North when I heard Jackie talking to Tooth about me.

"Same. I think I was expecting something different, that's for sure. I wasn't expecting him to be tall or have that many muscles or…" That's when Tooth pointed towards me in an attempt to shut her up before she embarrassed herself. Did I really get that much muscle? Looking at myself, I noticed that I had. Guess I never noticed covered in all that fur. Jackie spun around to face me. I leaned with one arm against a nearby tree.

"So what were you expecting? The ground hog?" I asked them, chuckling a bit to myself. She blushed and looked away. I tentatively reached out a hand and placed it on her cheek, gently lifting her face to look at me.

"Well, I guess I was expecting you to look more like, well, you. From in your rabbit form. Guess I was wrong," she said. I let her go, so as to not make things awkward.

"Jackie, I…"

"Hey, are we going to get moving sometime today or are we all just going to stand around talking? Let's go!" Jack shouted excitedly, not ever used to staying in one place. I sighed. Guess I would try to talk to her later. We started moving again.

Jackie's POV

* * *

I could still feel that my face was warm as we kept moving. We soon came out into a long street adorned with blow-up black cats and witches smashed into the doors and walls on the outside of the houses. Some houses seemed like they went overboard with it, putting out so many decorations that not a blade of grass on their lawn was visible. I stared in awe at how many people seemed to enjoy my holiday. I could feel everyone's eyes on me as I looked around.

"Vell, everything you expected?" North asked me. I shook my head.

"No. This is way more than what I expected," I said, looking at everything as we started walking down the street. "I honestly just thought that people put out pumpkins and maybe a few 'Happy Halloween' signs but nothing like this," I said, smiling like crazy.

Bunny's POV

I couldn't help but notice how happy seeing all this made her look. This was by far the happiest I had seen her so far. All I knew at that moment was that I wanted her to look like that more often than she usually was. Who cared if she represented fear and Pitch Black was her brother? She deserved some happiness herself. Jack started hoping up and down to get our attention.

"Hey guys! You know what we should do? We should go and see Jamie! I bet he would love to see us like this!" he said, ecstatic. He had been spending a lot of time with him over the past couple of months. I guess it would be obvious that he would be such good friends with the first person to ever be able to see him.

"Who is that? Another spirit?" Jackie asked. I guess she didn't know everybody yet considering that she never got out too much.

"Nope! You'll see! Let's go!" Jack said, tugging on North's arm.

"Alvright, alvright. Let us go to a place vhere no one will see my snow globe," he said as we wandered back into the woods.

Jackie's POV

* * *

When we got far enough back into the forest where no one from the road would see us, North took out a snow globe the size of his hand. He shook it a little until it started to snow inside. He then whispered into it before throwing it. I didn't expect it to open up a portal to some unknown place. Bunny looked back at me before entering.

"Well? What are you waitin' for? Halloween?" He said, laughing before jumping in. I laughed a bit myself as I threw myself through it. Landing on the other side, I noticed we were in someone's back yard. I leaned real close to North.

"Um, anyone can see you right now. What are we doing here?" I asked, a little scared of what someone would do if they found strangers in their back yard.

"Oh, vright," he said, scratching his head. He looked at me a moment. "Is there a way to maybe turn us invisible again just until tonight?" he asked. I smiled and nodded as I undid the spell in my head.

"Done," I said. He smiled and nodded.

"Good. Now let us proceed!" he declared as we went through the door as a woman opened it to let out their dog.

"Hey girl," Jack said as he walked past it. When inside, Jack took no time ascending the stairs as we all followed. _Where are we going?_

Bunny's POV

* * *

"Okay, you can make us all visible again, not that it really matters," Jack said, chuckling a little bit. Jackie looked confused before closing her eyes. I felt a light tingling sensation as we became visible once again. "Thanks," he said. She nodded and we went the rest of the way up to Jamie's room. He was walking around his bed, trying to nail his mummy costume which looked extremely good. When he saw us, he smiled wide, showing his new tooth that had come in over the last couple of months.

"Hey! What are you guys doing here?" he asked excitedly, hugging Jack before hugging everyone else minus Jackie.

"We just wanted to come by and see ya kiddo," Jack said.

"Awesome! It's great to see you guys again!" he said excitedly. North indicated to Jackie.

"Ve also have new member to our group for dis evening," he said with a smile. Jamie smiled back and looked around as if he couldn't…couldn't see her. It all started coming together at that moment.

"Really? Where are they?" Jamie asked. I watched as Jackie's face fell as well as the realization on everyone else's faces. Jamie frowned. "Hey, what's wrong you guys?" He asked but we didn't hear him.

"Excuse me," Jackie said before changing into a bat and flying out the window into the yard. I quickly ran after her, careful to avoid detection of anyone else in the house on my way out. I found her sitting at the nearby lake back in her human form. When I got closer, I saw that she was crying.

"Hey, what was all that about in there?" I asked, sitting down beside her. She didn't look at me. She just kept staring straight ahead.

"No one can see me," she said simply.

"Well, why can't you just make yourself visible like you did for us?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I can't. I've never been able to," she answered. I was confused.

"Why can't you if you can do that for us?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I've never been able to. No matter how hard I try, I just can't," she said, burying her face in her arms. I scooted closer and pulled her towards me into a hug, letting her cry on my shoulder. The others came up to us. North gave me a 'what happened?' look to which I mouthed back;

She's invisible.


	12. Chapter 12

Jackie's POV

* * *

 _I knew coming out was going to be a bad idea. I knew it and I decided to come out anyways. Smart. Real smart Jackie._ I dried up the tears, hating to cry in front of the guardians. The boy from earlier ran outside with them. I knew he couldn't see me and I didn't blame him for not being able to. There was no reason why he should have heard about me since in any story of Halloween, they always depicted the spirit associated with it to be a guy usually with a carved pumpkin for a head. Unlike Jack, there wasn't any songs about my existence nor were there any sayings like Jack had. There was just no reason for people to believe in me like they could him. Or the others for that matter.

"Guys, please! Who is it? I promise I can believe in them too!" said the kid, his tone desperate. I looked to him with sad eyes before looking at Jack.

"Why is it that he can see you too? The spell I cast to make everyone visible is no longer active. He truly believes in everyone? And you're close friends?" I asked him. He smiled.

"He does. And I know for a fact he can believe in you too," he said, laying a hand on my shoulder which probably looked a little weird to the kid. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and nodded. "Okay," he said, turning to Jamie. "Her name is Jackie Lantern. She's the spirit of Halloween. You know? The one who makes you scared this time of year when you go into haunted houses?" he said, giving the tamest example of me that he could possibly give. The boy closed his eyes tight before opening them again. Everyone held their breath. Including me. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, I still can't see you," he said, looking in my general direction since that's where Jack had put his hand on my shoulder. I looked down and looked over to Jack.

"Tell him that it's okay. I'm not mad or upset with him," he nodded and relayed my message to him. It didn't look like it cheered him up much.

"Well maybe she just has to do something like what you did Jack? Do you think that would work?" he asked him. Jack sat down on the grass and thought for a few seconds. Then he beamed and looked at me.

"That's it! That's what we have to do!" he said.

"What is?" Jamie and I asked at the same time though he didn't know it. Jack looked to both of us while he talked.

"All we have to do is get you to do your job. You know? Pull a few pranks, scare a few kids in haunted houses and boom! People will believe in you!" he said, ecstatic. I shook my head.

"Jack, I tried that for years and it never worked. What makes you think it will now?" I asked him.

"Because this time, you have someone who knows your name! And Sandy can help tonight too with his dreams when all the kids go to sleep," he said, receiving a nod from the Sandman. I sighed.

"Well, I guess it's worth a shot," I said, getting up and looking at Jamie.

"Awesome! Now we just need to find a haunted house to go in," Jack said. I closed my eyes as Jamie thought about this.

"There's one four streets down, sixth building on the left," I said, looking back up to them. North looked at me in wonder.

"How did you do dat?" he asked.

"Do what?" Jamie asked. Jack relayed to him about what I just said.

"Oh yeah, I remember that! It's the new one that just opened this year. It's been open since the first of the month," he said. Jack nodded to him.

"Perfect! Let's go!" Jack said, starting to walk away.

"Um Jack? You need money to get in and what if Jamie's mom doesn't let him go?" Tooth asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he said, his mood dropping. Jamie put his hands up.

"Hey, hey it's okay! I can just tell her I'm going with my friends," he said and looking at North he continued, "and it's not a lie because you guys are my friends," he said, obviously happy with his plan.

"Vell, so long as she is okay vith it," North said, giving in.

"Alright!" he said before running off to his mom.

"Wait a sec, what are we gonna do?" Bunny asked. Jack laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Bunny, we're invisible to those people. Especially this time of year," he said, laughing a little.

"Yeah but what if we run into kids that do believe in us?" he pressed.

"They won't think anything of it because we look normal so there's no reason for them to point us out," Tooth stated logically. He nodded.

"I guess you have a point there," he said.

"Good. So now we just have to wait on Jamie," Jack said, looking towards the house. We didn't have to wait long before Jamie came back out, running down towards us.

"She said yes! I'm all good to go now you guys," he said, showing us the money his mom gave him for the haunted house.

"Awesome! Let's get moving," Jack said, walking with Jamie as they walked down the road, careful to avoid the front of his house so that his mom couldn't see that he wasn't walking with his 'usual friends'. I trailed behind the others as we walked. Bunny soon noticed this and fell into step besides me.

"I'm fine. Really," I said though I could tell that he didn't believe me.

"I know," he said, nodding even though I knew that he didn't buy it. I could feel he wanted to ask about something but didn't want to overstep boundaries.

"If you have something you need to say, don't be afraid to say it," I said, starting to feel a little awkward. I saw him gulp a little though I could feel that he didn't want me to notice so I pretended that I hadn't.

"Okay well, um," he started.

Bunny's POV

* * *

 _I don't how to ask it._

 _Just ask._ I could hear Anastasia in my head again.

 _Are you sure she won't snap at me or be mad at me for asking?_

 _She might be a little annoyed but don't worry, she's come to like you guys a lot._

 _Alright, thanks. It helps. I think._

 _No problem._ I felt her leave my mind for the second time that day. I took a deep breath before asking Jackie what was on my mind.

"What happened that you stopped going out on your holiday?" The question came out faster than I intended but it was alright. It was what I needed to get off my chest to ask. I looked at her closely for her reaction. She looked almost like she was in a far away place for a moment and maybe she was. I didn't yet understand all that she was capable of yet. And strangely enough, that didn't bother me. She was our friend and we could trust her, that much I knew for sure. She sighed.

"You wouldn't trust me anymore if you knew," she said. It was more of an answer than I thought she was going to give me.

"Trust me, we won't trust you any less just because of the past," I told her, trying to get her to come out of her shell. She had already come so far, I didn't want to risk losing all that time and effort. She seemed to be lost in thought for a minute. She looked me in the eye.

"Can we talk about this later? I don't think I can talk about it right now," she said. I smiled and nodded.

"Sure. That's no problem. Just tell me whenever you're ready," I said, putting an arm around her. She smiled a little.

"Thanks Bunny."

"No problem."


	13. Chapter 13

Jackie's POV

* * *

We finally got to the Butcher's Shop, the place that I had sensed and Jamie had come up with. Not a bad name for a haunted house but it could use some work. I made sure that the guardians were invisible before getting in line. I looked ahead. Those that were taking tickets were all too old to believe in any of the guardians so I knew for a fact that we could get in without any problems. This may have seemed wrong to want to get into a place for free but was it wrong really? I mean all the hard work we all put out all year round? I think getting into a place for free for just a few minutes wasn't much to ask for.

We finally reached the front of the line and Jamie ordered his ticket in. The ticket seller looked a little skeptical about a kid going in all by himself but said nothing as he ushered him, and the rest of us in.

The first thing I saw when we got in there was nothing but fog. I made the guardians solid once more as we started to walk through.

"Okay, here is de plan," North started. "Jackie, ve need to get Jamie to believe in you, so in order to do dat, you must scare him," he said. I nodded and walked in a different direction than where they were heading.

Bunny's POV

* * *

I watched her as she walked away from us. I could only imagine what she would do to scare us though even in my imagination wasn't even close to what she could do. We gave her a few more seconds before we started to slowly walk through. There were strobe lights that helped only a little to see through the fog the machines created. Not even a second after we got out of the fog bank, a werewolf howled to our left, making all of us jump. Then, it circled us, growling and snapping its jaws at us though we knew it wouldn't hurt us. We quickly scampered through into the next room where a vampire bat flew in from the ceiling towards our heads. We ducked quickly as it passed over our heads. It came over again for a second loop. At this time, Tooth was freaking out bad and Sandy and the others were protecting their heads. When we thought the bat was done with us, we stood back up fully only to come face to face with a vampire. If this was a costume, it was a pretty damn good one.

It was a woman, white hair, red eyes and long black dress robes. Her skin had an otherworldly glow to it where we could see her clearer than what I thought was possible in the almost pure black darkness. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the others quiver in fear. This felt more real than I had thought. And the outside of this place didn't even look as impressive. The vampire lady didn't even bother to come after us. After a few seconds of her unnerving stare, she stepped to the said and held out a hand, indicating of where to go next. We complied and ran as fast as we could into the next room.

The next one didn't seem to have anything in it except for a few old-fashioned tombstones. We got about halfway through the room when Jamie screamed. We all looked back at him at the same time.

"Jamie! What's wrong?" Jack asked, alarm clear in his voice.

"Something's got my leg!" he almost screamed again. We all looked down at Jamie's leg only to see a hand was grabbing out of the floor! That's when I noticed that the floor was actually ground and that the tombstones were real! The hand that had a grasp on Jamie started to pull until the creature was up out of the ground, followed by others coming out of the ground.

"Zombies!" Jamie yelled and broke away from the creatures as we all ran to try to get away.

"Hey you guys! Where's the next door?" I yelled, trying to find a way out. The dark made it hard to see and because of turning around, we didn't want to run back into the vampire we saw earlier.

"Over here you guys!" Tooth yelled from somewhere across the room. We all ran for it and made it through the door before realizing we were in some kind of mummy's tomb. Out from all corners of the room came mummies left and right at us. We kept running until we found the exit of the room. We stopped when we heard the door close behind us to catch our breath.

"Okay," Jamie said, huffing and puffing. "There is nothing that can be worse than those last two. We nodded, agreeing. The ground shook. We looked up. We saw eight giant eyes staring back at us.

"You spoke too soon kid, run!" I shouted as we scattered in different directions, attempting to get away from the giant spider. The sound of it moving around seemed to follow me everywhere until after what seemed like hours, I found the way out. "Guys! In here!" I yelled, though I couldn't see any of them. A moment later, they came running with the spider close on their trail. I held the door open as they ran through and slammed it behind me as we ended up in the next room. How long was this place anyways? We squinted for a moment, letting our eyes adjust to the light. This room was lit up and rather large. There was nothing in it except for a single open door and a little girl in the corner. I relaxed. So did North as she approached her. As we got closer, we could hear her sobbing.

"Vhat is vrong little one? Have you gotten separated from your family?" he asked, laying a hand on her shoulder. She slowly turned around to face us, the first thing we noticed was her bottomless black eyes for she had to pupil or whites to them at all. Next we noticed that her mouth was sewn shut. Tears of blood ran down her face. She pointed above her to a mirror where a person stood, hair completely in her face. _Bloody Mary._ That's when we ran for it, straight through the door we hadn't come in.

"Sheesh, this place just keeps getting worse and worse," Tooth said as we walked through and braced for what was next. We were in an even larger room than any we had been in before. Everything was quiet until we got almost to the middle of the room. That's when everything we had seen that entire night came out to greet us. The mummies, spider, werewolf, vampire, bat, zombies and the little girl surrounded us. We all stood back to back as we watched them advance on us. Those with hands to carry us picked us up and took us to the next room where they bowed to an unseen being. We looked to where they were bowing to, only to be completely shocked. There was a giant pumpkin surrounded by spirits. The pumpkin began to speak and move as if it was alive.

"Friends!" It boomed. "On this night, you have survived my trials of many monsters but still, the true horrors are yet to come! You have been warned," it said before it vanished with all the other monsters that was in the room with us. A door to our right slammed open, making us all jump. The exit sign blinked on as the lights came on and we left quickly. We were out of breath by the time we exited, not wanting to run into anything else and feeling our skin crawl at the pumpkin head's warning. That's when we saw Jackie across the street. She smiled as we got closer.

"Jackie, where were you? That was your big chance!" Jack said.

"I agree vith Jack, ve did not see you once," North agreed.

"Yeah though I will say, that was really scary," Tooth said. Sandy nodded. Jackie smirked. Everyone was silent for a second. I figured it out the moment we had stepped outside.

Jackie's POV

* * *

They all talked as if they had forgotten about everything I could turn into. It was actually kinda amusing. I was really surprised though that the pumpkin head hadn't given it away. When I smirked, I could see the realization dawning on their faces. Well, everyone's except Bunny's. Though he might have gotten caught up in the moment in there, his head was clear as soon as he was back outside.

"Vait, you mean to tell me dat dat was you de entire time?" North said. I smiled more and nodded. Though then I had remembered why it was they had decided to do this. I looked to Jamie. He was looking in my direction with wide eyes almost like…like he could see me. I got down on my knees to be on his level and his eyes followed mine. I felt the guardians smile at me.

"Can…can you see me?" I asked, tentatively, barely letting myself hope that I had a child believe in me for once. He nodded, his mouth agape.

"That. Was. Awesome!" He exclaimed, smiling his head off. "That was so scary and spooky! There was that giant spider and that werewolf and vampire and…and that was all you?" He asked excitedly. I could barely breathe, I was so happy.

"Yeah that was me," I said smiling. He jumped into my arms, hugging me.

"That was the best haunted house ever!" He said. I carefully hugged him back and looked up at the guardians. They smiled and nodded at me. I closed my eyes and cherished the first moment of my entire life when someone had finally seen me.

* * *

 **This is not the end of this you guys but it might be a while until I upload anymore chapters for a while. Life is getting in the way. Thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

Bunny's POV

She hugged Jamie longer than I thought she would, almost as if her life depended on it. They separated after a couple minutes.

"This has been the best Halloween ever!" he declared. Jack laughed and ruffled his hair.

"It's not even nighttime, kid. Plenty of more fun to be had before the end of the night," he said.

"Oh yeah. Right," he answered with a laugh. "Almost forgot."

Jackie's POV

I had never felt this way before. For the first time in my entire existence, someone could see me without fear of what I would do to them. For the rest of the day, we went around and visited with Jamie's friends who in turn would go through my own haunted house I created for them down by the lake. Anyone who saw them thought they were just playing in their costumes and didn't think anything else of it. Soon, all his friends could see me. During a much needed break, Bunny came up and nudged me.

"Havin' a good Halloween so far?" he asked. I smiled wider.

"More than I could have ever wished for," I answered, looking out over the lake. He smiled.

"I'm glad," he said, looking down. I could tell without delving into his mind what he wanted to ask.

"I'll tell you tonight, alright?" I asked, glancing back at the disguised guardians walking up to us. I saw him briefly nod and stand as they came near.

Bunny's POV

I would have been lying to myself if I said I wasn't curious about what happened that made her like this. I would also be lying if I said that it wasn't embarrassing for North to note how we were talking away from everyone else.

"I was just makin' sure she was holdn' up with all the excitement," I said. It wasn't a total lie, not that North cared. He gave me that look he used when he knew more than what you were saying and turned back to the rest of the group.

"Jamie's mom just called him for dinner before they go out trick or treating. She's letting him and his friends go out alone for the first time," Jack informed us. Jackie nodded.

"In the meantime, there's some things I need to do," she said.

"Alright mate. What can we help you with?" I asked. She smiled a little and turned away from us.

Jackie's POV

I knew my face was turning red and I didn't want them to see so I turned away to clear my head before speaking.

"I'm not sure if you guys would be able to help with this," I said.

"We can at least try, can't we?" Jack asked. The rest of them agreed and I smiled, happy to have their help.

"Alright, let's go," I said, leading them away from the lake to some of the neighboring houses.

"That pumpkin over there! It looks different from normal ones," Tooth pointed out.

"Exactly! That's one of the ones enchanted with a spirit," I said. I lead them over to where the house was sitting. Suddenly, a spirit floated up from the pumpkin.

Bunny's POV

A spirit raised up out of the pumpkin as we got closer to the house. The spirit looked a lot like a normal person except for fact that it was a grey slate color and had flowing clothes that seemed to move as if she was swimming.

"Any luck Angela?" Jackie asked her. The spirit looked ready to burst into tears if it could.

"Not at all. I've been here longer than anyone else and I'm having the worst time," she said. The spirit known as Angela turned to peer into the window of the house.

"Mom and dad are going to pass away soon, I can feel it. And how will they feel when they pass and see that I'm nowhere to be found? What will I do then?" she asked despairingly. Jackie hugged her gently and got a new look of determination on her face.

"Don't worry, we'll help. I promise," Jackie said. The spirit could only nod. She turned to us.

"Let's fix this now. She's been stuck far too long," she said. I admired her willingness to help. North must have noticed that I was spacing out as she was talking plans with Tooth, Jack, and Sandy because he nudged me out of my thoughts.

"Are you going to say anything to her or are you going to make her guess?" he asked. I felt my face flush and glared at him.

"I don't know what you're talkin about mate," I said and attempted to listen to what they were saying. North chuckled.

"Lie to yourself all you vant, but you cannot lie to me. Remember dat, Bunny," he said. I rolled my eyes.

Jackie's POV

"Alright, that should work. You guys stay here with her, I'm going in," I said. This didn't require a lot, just hope that it would work. I phased through the wall into their house and took a good long look at the picture of what Angela looked like when she was still alive. She had dark brown hair and blue eyes. In the picture, she was smiling beside her parents. Looking at the two of them, I knew what she meant when she said she could feel they didn't have much time left.

I went over to the picture and moved it enough to catch their attention. Her dad walked over to it and moved it back to where it was. _He has pretty good eyesight for an older man._ I did it again and again, he came back over to move it. After doing this a couple minutes back and forth, he stood there and would wait for it to move. His wife came in and gave him a look.

"She's not going to pop out of the picture frame no matter how long you look," she said.

"No, the picture frame itself was moving!" he said, pointing at it. She rolled her eyes.

"Of all the stupid," she cut herself off as I moved it herself.

"Angela!" I called. She came in quickly and floated over to where I was. Her mom moved the picture frame back. Angela moved it again, the same way I had. Her parents' eyes suddenly sparkled.

"Angela?" Her mom said, barely above a whisper. Angela gasped.

"Mom? Can you see me?" she asked tentatively. She was started to sound like me. Her mom nodded, eyes flooding with tears.

"Oh Angela! I'm so sorry! Please forgive us!" her mom gushed. Tears welled up in her dad's eyes as well. Angela smiled, her own spirit tears appearing on her face.

"I'm so glad you can see me! I just wanted you to know that neither of you are to blame for what happened," she said. I smiled at the guardians peering through the window.

"But we should have," her dad started but she cut him off.

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have walked outside in the storm. It was my fault and I knew better," she said, her face falling. "I just wish it had only been me to pay the price," she said.

"Don't be silly dear, it's a parent's job to worry," her mom said. She smiled at the two of them as she started to glow.

"I'm so glad the two of you feel that way. Now, I can finally rest in peace," she said as the glowing intensified.

"We love you!" the two of them said in unison.

"I love you too," she said as she faded, disappearing into thin air. The two of them cried, holding each other but it was different from a usual cry. They were happy and I was glad to have been able to help. I floated back outside to the waiting guardians.

"What happened to her?" Bunny asked. I smiled.

"She was finally able to move on after all this time," I answered.

"So what would have happened if she hadn't gotten her message across?" Tooth asked. I looked down.

"She would have been trapped in my realm, never to move on, never able to leave."


	15. Chapter 15

Bunny's POV

For the rest of the afternoon leading up to trick or treating, we went around to different places to help Jackie help the spirits in need. Some were easier to help than others not only because of what they needed to be able to move on but because some were stubborn on wanting to do things on their own. We granted that wish to only a few depending on the circumstances.

"We've really made great progress! There was less this year than there was last year and it will hopefully dwindle more over time," Jackie exclaimed as we were heading back to meet up with Jamie and his friends for the evening.

"So what happens if there's people who die during the other times of the year? Are they still able to make it to your home?" Jack asked. That was a good question.

"In a way, there's not much they could do to keep from coming there," she answered.

"What do ya mean?" I asked.

"Well," she started, thinking about it. "In a way, my home is like a magnet. It pulls them into my world whether they want to be or not. Very few actually stay in the land of the living during the rest of the year if they really are anchored by something. It's a little complicated and not something I ever wished to pursue the knowledge of," she said. North nodded along with Sandy.

"Makes sense," North commented.

Soon, we were nearing Jamie's house once more. I saw Jackie glance up at the sky then back at me before keeping her eyes focused straight ahead. My curiosity was growing by the minute.

Jackie's POV

I could feel his curiosity growing. I could feel the kids' excitement brewing. And I could feel my nervousness mounting. What would happen tonight? Would anything happen? Would Manny give me the silent treatment or would he punish me? I was so lost in my own thoughts of worrying that I ran right into the back of Bunny.

"Oof, sorry. I wasn't paying attention," I said rubbing my nose. From what I could tell, he was built like a brick wall. He smirked.

"If I had glasses, I'd ask if you wanted to borrow em'," he said. I couldn't help but blush, especially when he patted me on the back and told me not to worry.

"It's alright, I was just jokin'," he said. I laughed nervously, feeling more on edge than I had in years.

"I'm alright," I lied. I was becoming more and more scared by the minute. Sandy seemed to notice this and tugged on North's clothes. Glancing at the sandman, North saw him indicate in my direction. He must have picked up on my emotional distress too.

"Jackie, might I have a vord vith you? The rest of you go on vithout us. Ve'll catch up," he said, putting a gentle but firm hand on my arm. He lead me away from the others as they continued on to Jamie's house.

"You can't lie to me, so don't even try. Vhat is bugging you?" he asked me. Tears burst forth from my eyes as I was caught in a hug by him as I began to fall.

"Jackie?" he asked, worried. I sobbed against him, letting him hug me.

"It's just that…I'm so…scared," I managed to get out. He got down on his knees to be more level with me, never breaking the hug.

"Of vhat? I never thought I'd hear the spirit of Halloween admit she vas scared," he said gently. My body shook from how hard I was crying. I sensed that the others were almost to Jamie's house so I wasn't scared of them overhearing.

"Of what the others will think," I said, barely above a whisper as I started to reign in my tears. He pulled back to see my face.

"Oh? Vhat do you think ve vill think?" he asked gently. I looked at him through blood-shot eyes and a tear-stained face.

"North, you're supposed to know everything," I whined. I had been hoping that of all the guardians, he would be one I wouldn't have to tell. He laughed.

"Not everything, Jackie, not everything. Besides, I mostly keep eyes on children and the other guardians vhen necessary," he admitted. My heart dropped. He went back to being serious and put his hands on my shoulders. "Look at me." I did. "No matter vhat you have done in the past, dat vill not matter to us. To any of us," he said. I searched his eyes for any trace of a lie. "I can tell you for fact dat ve vill not think badly of you, no matter vhat. You have shown us many things ve never knew about and have proven that fear is not alvays a bad thing. You've opened our eyes to more than you could have ever know. Vill you trust us the vay ve have come to trust you?" he asked. I looked down considering his words. I smiled a little and nodded. He smiled back and stood up. "Vonderful! Come! Ve must catch up to the others!" he said as he started off. I smiled and transformed into a cheetah.

"Race you!" I shouted back at him. He jumped with a start and began running after me.

"No fair!" he said through a laugh. I laughed as I continued running all the way to Jamie's house.

Bunny's POV

I stood around waiting for North and Jackie to show up as Jamie and the rest of the guardians were in the house putting the finishing touches on his costume. I was thinking over what the two of them could possibly be talking about when I was hit by something black and furry.

"What the hell?!" I said as I hit the pavement. _Good thing I'm just a spirit_ , I thought as I looked into the brown eyes of the oddly colored cheetah on top of me. It looked scared for a second then transformed into a blushing Jackie.

"My bad!" she exclaimed, struggling as she was trying to untangle her leg from where it was stuck under mine.

"It's alright mate. No harm done," I said. She suddenly looked up at me and for a moment, everything stopped. The world was still. There was nothing but her. Suddenly, I realized that was all I wanted. Nothing else mattered.

Jackie's POV

"You…you…," North panted, trying to catch his breath. I broke the stare I had with Bunny as my face began to turn red. I quickly got off of Bunny before North could see and helped Bunny to his feet. "You…cheated," North finally managed to get out. I smiled as the blush started to disappear.

"I never said we couldn't use our powers," I said with a taunting smile. He snapped his fingers.

"I should have used the snow globe," he said. Bunny and I laughed and looked away from each other when our gaze met one another. North glanced between the two of us with a knowing smile and a look in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something when the rest of the guardians and Jamie came out of his house.

"We're all ready to go!" Jamie said, breaking the silence.

"Alright! Let's go meet up with your friends," I said, happy for the disruption. As we passed North, I saw him snap his fingers again.

Half an hour later, it started getting dark. Glancing up at the sky, I smiled. There was enough cloud cover that the light of Manny was unable to get through. If I stayed lucky, the clouds would persist the entire night. An hour later, the kids had filled their pillow cases half way with all the candy everyone had given out. We were laughing about some sort of decoration when the clouds started to break up. I sensed it immediately. Looking up to confirm my suspicions, I turned to the group who was now staring at me for my rapid change of emotion.

"I got to go," I said quietly before turning into a bat and flying away.

"Wait! Jackie!" I heard the guardians call after me. The kids were just confused. I numbly sensed the guardians tell the kids to go on without them before I sensed them trying to come after me. Despite what North said, I didn't believe that they would be able to overlook the mistakes I had made. No matter what I did, it was always there in the back of my mind, haunting me at the worst of moments. I made it back to the lake behind Jamie's house without meaning to go there and came out of my transformation on the cold hard ground.

Moonlight streamed down from the moon just as the guardians made it fifty yards from me.

"Jackie!" Bunny called. I ignored him as I watched the moonlight fall into the form of Manny. The spirit of the moon. I bowed my head and the guardians came forward.

"Manny, I'm so sorry! I don't deserve another chance, I know I don't! I won't make any excuses either! It's all my fault! It's all my fault…" I said as I collapsed into sobs for the second time that day. I felt the guardians make it to me. Someone put a hand on my back as they kneeled beside me.

"Manny, whatever she did in the past doesn't matter anymore." It was Tooth that had spoken and was kneeling next to me.

"Whatever punishment you want to give her won't be right!" Jack said. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. They didn't even know what I had done and yet, they were standing against whatever Manny wanted to do to me.

"Manny, I don't care what she's done. All I know is she's not deservin' of anything you dish out to her," Bunny said. My heart leapt. He wasn't one to make a judgement call on something this big without knowing everything about it first. I looked up into Manny's face. His expression was level as he extended a hand to me. After flinching, I hesitantly took it.

"If your new friends are willing to stick up for you before knowing, true friends will continue to do so even after knowing," Manny said, gesturing for me to speak. I turned to look around at all of them who I had come to appreciate and love. I numbly nodded, knowing my friendship would be short lived.


	16. Chapter 16

Bunny's POV

I was beginning to wonder who was more afraid for Jackie; her, the guardians, or me. All I could do was watch as she turned to us with a downcast face, obviously terrified. Even though it hadn't been an order, Manny's face made it obvious that she didn't have the choice to tell us or not anymore. Stealing my courage, I walked up and took her hand in mine. She looked up at me, eyes glistening with tears against the light Manny brought.

"It's alright. We're here for ya," I said, hoping it would be reassuring. She smiled and took a deep breath.

Jackie's POV

I took a deep breath, finding renewed strength through Bunny. I knew that even if they all hated me after I told them, I had friends one last time. I closed my eyes and summoned a memory mirror in the middle of the circle they had accidentally made. They peered into my memories as I spoke.

"It was years and years ago when this took place. Pitch was dormant during this time and I had made it a habit of going out every year on my holiday to make sure that everyone was safe and everyone was having a good time," I started. In the memory, I saw me going around, making kids look both ways before crossing the street and giving others ideas for how they could playfully prank their neighbors.

"Over time, I became more and more upset that people couldn't see me," I said, the scene showing people walking right through me. "At first, I tried what we did tonight. I made haunted houses scarier, more real. Still no one saw me. No one knew my name," I said, the scene playing out my attempts in haunted houses to no avail. "This particular year was rather rotten. I had traveled too close to the forbidden area of my own home," I said as the visual appeared of the place in my world that swirled with not the grey mist that was spirits but with what was black mist with the vengeful spirits.

"I was filled with so much anger and hate and my continuous failures made the feelings increasingly worse." I took a breath as they watched as people gathered around the best three decorated houses in a neighborhood. "I felt that if people were going to be so ignorant about seeing me that I would force them to see me." I took a shaky breath as my memory self raised my hands to the houses.

"I made everything everyone was looking at on that block come alive," as I spoke, it happened in the memory-vision. "Giant spiders, mummies, zombies, witches, black cats, you name it. It came alive." I dared not look at the guardian's reactions as they watched what I had done, unable to stop it. "After what felt like hours but what was only fifteen minutes, those who did not lie dead or injured in the middle of the street was going into shock. At that point, my powers were nearly depleted and I looked out on what I had done.

I was mortified. I couldn't believe what I had done. I didn't want to believe that I had caused so much devastation. I was so scared that I ran home." My memory self did as I said I did. "I was so scared of what I had done and what Manny would do to me, I couldn't think straight. I worked until this year to do everything I could to keep me inside but all of you made me realize something," I said as I let the memory dissipate, never looking at them. "You made me realize how much I need other people in my life. I never knew how lonely I was even with Anastasia until the five of you showed up," I said as tears started running down my cheeks. "I didn't want to tell you but I knew I had to and now you're all going to hate me just like you hate Pitch," I said as I collapsed into sobs and fell to my knees. I felt Bunny's hand slip out of mine to be replaced by a warm hug. I opened my eyes in shock.

"Bunny?" I asked, unsure.

"I don't care," he stated.

"What?"

"I said I don't care," he said again. "I don't care what you've done, you're sorry for it. That doesn't make you like Pitch. After everything he did, he wasn't sorry. You were and still are. You need to learn to forgive yourself before others will forgive you," he said. I looked around at the others. They nodded and came forward to join in the hug.

"You guys really mean it?" I asked, barely able to speak. North stood, pulling everyone up with him including me.

"Everyone deserves second chance," he said with a wink. I smiled and wiped my eyes. I turned to Manny who stood smiling at me.

"Depending on what they thought determined what I did," he said. I smiled, relieved. He grew stern again and I went rigid. "However, I want to make sure we don't have another situation like that one so there is a consequence," he stated. I nodded and looked down, ready for whatever punishment he chose for me. He faded back into a moonbeam and shot back up into the sky. From there, a single beam of light shone down from the moon onto me, making the ground where I stood shine with a pale 'G'. Everyone gasped as the realization came down on us.

"You're a guardian!" Bunny stated in awe.

 _I don't want those lonely feelings to fester as they did with Pitch. I won't make the same mistake twice. Take care of one another,_ said Manny as the clouds covered the moon once more. For a while, we stood there staring at each other. Laughter and congratulations broke out at the same time.

Jack slapped me on the back, Sandy gave me a thumbs up, Tooth and North gave me a big hug and Bunny stood back waiting for them to get done. I looked at him as Tooth relinquished her grip on me. He held out his hand.

"Welcome to the crazy club," he said. I laughed and took his hand. He pulled me into a tight hug, making everyone cheer again. When we pulled away, the same thing as earlier when I crashed into him happened. Everything else fell away. Until of course North clapped us on the back as Jamie came into view.

"Is everything alright? You guys were gone in a flash," he said, obviously worried. The others looked at one another before answering him.

"A new guardian was just selected," North explained. Jamie's eyes lit up.

"Congratulations Jackie!" he said and ran over to give me a high five. I laughed and high fived him back.

"Thanks! It came as a big surprise," I admitted, looking over at North. It wasn't a lie after all.

"Cool. I gotta go home now so I can sort my candy. Thanks for making this the best Halloween ever you guys!" he said before running towards his house with a nearly full pillow case. He turned around just before he got to his gate and waved. "Happy Halloween Jackie!" I waved back as he turned to go through the gate.

"Happy Halloween Jamie!" I smiled at the rest of the guardians.

"So vhat now?" North asked. I grinned.

"Back to my place to celebrate!"


	17. Chapter 17

Bunny's POV

As we walked the rest of the way through the dead woods after using North's snow globe, I couldn't help but notice how pretty Jackie looked in the pale light. Her medium length black hair seemed to shimmer with an otherworldly glow and her eyes glinted with a happiness I hadn't seen there before. Things had changed with her in so little time as it had with all of us. Especially me. I couldn't help but think of a way to tell her how I felt without it being too weird. I was a giant rabbit after all and she was a person, even if she could change her form at will. Just as I was thinking about this, I started falling.

"Bunny!" everyone screamed and suddenly, I was snatched out of the air by Sandy's sand.

"Thanks mate. I owe you one," I said as I picked myself up off the ground. Sandman nodded and looked up at North who had that knowing look in his eye. I couldn't hide the blush as Jackie rushed over to make sure I was alright.

"I'm fine, mate. Don't you worry. What'd I fall into anyways?" I asked.

"The hole you guys used to get to my home," she answered. "We tried to warn you but you were spacing out and didn't hear us I guess," she said. I blush deeper.

"Oh. My bad," I said, pointedly ignoring North.

"If you're done trying to kill yourself, let's get down there," Anastasia said, already harnessed to the cart. I jumped, having not realized she was standing there. She also seemed to have a knowing look in her eyes. I ignored her too as we hopped onto the carriage.

 _So when are you going to tell her?_

 _How long have you been looking at my thought?_

 _I started when I heard you thinking about how pretty she looked._ I mentally groaned. I heard her laugh in my head.

 _I won't tell if you do._

 _When's the deadline?_ I asked, dreading the answer. There was silence as we ended up in her world.

 _By tomorrow morning._ At that, I felt her leave my mind. I could only panic. Anastasia would tell her if I didn't but how could I tell her? It would be so weird.

Jackie's POV

 _When are you going to tell him?_ Anastasia's voice was in my mind again. I rolled my eyes both mentally and physically.

 _I don't know what you're talking about._

 _Bunny. You either tell him before tomorrow morning or I will. You have been warned._ I mentally sighed. She just didn't get it. He only liked me as a friend, right?

We made it back to my house and I jumped down and unharnessed Anastasia even though she could do it herself. It gave me something to take my mind off things.

"You guys go on in. I need to talk to Jackie about something," I heard Bunny say from the other side of the carriage. I felt my heart skip a beat and speed up as I sensed them going into the house. I finished undoing the reigns from Anastasia and I let her go about her business as I turned to face Bunny.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked nervously. He scratched the back of his neck. I sensed he was also nervous. Did that mean he felt the same?

"Um, these last couple of days were fun," he said.

"Oh. Yeah, they were," I said, unable to hide my disappointment.

Bunny's POV

I saw the disappointment on her face clear as a red and blue easter egg on golf turf. _Maybe she feels the same?_ I let myself think. She started to walk towards the house.

"We might want to get inside," she said. I reacted so fast, her surprise was nothing compared to mine. In one smooth motion, I had pulled her by the arm into a kiss so sweet, I thought for a second I was dreaming. After momentary shock, I felt her kiss me back.

Jackie's POV

I couldn't believe it! He felt the same! The kiss ended what I thought was too soon and for a few minutes, we just stood there staring at one another. He suddenly scooped me up in a huge hug as he swung me around, making me laugh like a little kid. He smiled down at me and I felt a fluttering in my chest I had never known before him.

"So, um. What now?" he asked awkwardly. I laughed.

"Don't know but I'm sure we have plenty of time to figure it out," I said as he set me down. Before we walked back into the house, he gave me a peck on the cheek.

As we walked in, I could smell dinner on the table. Not only that, but we could see the smirks on everyone's faces as Anastasia dutifully started eating her dinner. I laughed, unable to stay mad at her as Tooth shouted congratulations and hugged me. North clapped Bunny on the back and Sandy and Jack gave us a thumbs up. After a while, everyone calmed down and we took our seats. During dinner, we endured North and Jack's teasing as Tooth gushed about how cute we were together and Sandy planning out what dreams to give to everyone that night.

After dinner, I snuck up to the roof knowing Bunny would follow me.

"I thought you'd be up her tonight," he said as he sat down next to me. I smiled.

"Yeah. I like it up here," I answered, leaning against him as he put an arm around my shoulders. For a while, we stayed like that, grateful for one another's company.

"So what happens now after I turn back into a rabbit?" he asked after a long stretch of silence. I shifted a little and shrugged.

"What about it?" I asked. He looked down.

"Well, I'll be a rabbit and you'll still be a human. Isn't that a little weird?" he asked. I thought about it a moment before shaking my head. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because you're still the same person. Just because you have long ears, a tail and fur doesn't change who you are. That's what I like. You are who I like. Not what you look like. Besides, we're both spirits so it doesn't really matter what species you're supposed to be, right?" I said. He thought about it for a minute before smiling back at me.

"You're right," he said, looking at his hands. "Though I will say, this has been a weird experience. I never thought I'd know what it was like to have a human body," he admitted. I smiled.

"It was weird the first time I changed forms," I said. We sat in silence for a long while before saying good night and going our separate ways after another kiss. Needless to say, we both slept well that night.

Three days later, I was in the middle of the field in my black hoodie, ready to welcome in whatever spirits hadn't reached their goal that year. After absorbing back my energy they had borrowed, I was ready to go visit the homes of my fellow guardians.

"You vill love de pole! It is vonderful no matter vhat time of year you go," North was telling me on the way to the carriage.

"I bet," I said with a laugh. Over the last three days, we had made plans to stay at each guardian's home for a week. Jack and Sandy opted to stay at the pole since they didn't really have a home of their own. They hopped into the carriage and I jumped into the driver's seat, Bunny by my side. We waved to Anastasia who opted to stay to watch over things.

"Be good now, don't make me come find you," she warned playfully.

"No need to worry about that," Bunny said with a wink. I laughed and away we went back up to the ground above. North pulled out his snow globe, ready to take us to our first destination.

"Tooth palace," he spoke and threw it to open the portal. I looked at Bunny and he looked at me. With a peck, we jumped through at the same time. I knew I'd never have another reason to be alone again.


End file.
